


Neon Genesis Evangelion: Legacy – Episode I: The Phantom Menace

by DarkBluePhoenix



Series: Neon Genesis Evangelion: Legacy [1]
Category: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Rebuild of Evangelion | Evangelion: New Theatrical Edition
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-14
Updated: 2016-11-14
Packaged: 2018-08-22 11:39:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 49,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8284490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkBluePhoenix/pseuds/DarkBluePhoenix
Summary: Every generation has a purpose. Every person has an origin. Every story needs a beginning. Welcome to the Beginning of Evangelion. Read to find the origins of SEELE, Kozo, Gendo, Yui, Naoko, Kyoko and Mari. In this reality, everything you think you know means nothing, and everything you assume means even less.





	1. Origins of SEELE

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Legacy  
Episode I: The Phantom Menace

* * *

Prologue – Man in Darkness  
March 1947 – Caves of Qumran, West Bank

A shadowy figure is exploring a cave system belonging to an ancient civilization. The figure is searching for something long since thought to be just a myth. Looking around with flashlight, finds a chamber deep within the cave system. Looking around the chamber, the figure spots several large ceramic jugs. Walking towards them the figure unseals one of the jugs with a knife concealed in his boot. Looking inside the jug, the figure finds several ancient scrolls, remarkably well preserved considering how old they look. Opening the ancient scroll, the figure looks at it in awe, comprehending its ancient script (or at least getting the gist, considering the conditions he was in), which describes a war of genocide against a chosen people, and the awe inspiring weapon used to end the war, the figure begins to talk to himself.

"People said they didn't exist. That I've been looking for a myth akin to Atlantis or Martians. But now after looking for nearly half my life, I've finally found what I was looking for, a justification for all of my studies of dead languages and mythology. A wasted life and squandered intelligence. Those who mocked and laughed will rue the day when I can comprehend and understand the full extent of these documents, I will control the future of mankind!"

The man talking to himself was a short, lean young man, with dark hair, this man who wishes to control the fates and become a god. This man is 22–year–old Keel Lorenz, and he has found what he was looking for, the Dead Sea Scrolls. With the scrolls, his machinations for control of the world and everyone in it have begun.

* * *

Chapter 1 – Origins of SEELE  
November 1952, U.N. Building, NYC, United States

Keel Lorenz is standing inside of the newly completed U.N. Building, he is waiting for several other individuals to arrive, and he has a proposition for them. After 6 years of translating the Dead Sea Scrolls, Keel finally has completed the translation and now has a plan to bring the world to its knees and make him a god. Even with the vast wealth that he inherited from his dead father, and after pilfering the gold thought lost on a Nazi transport, he has become the richest man in West Germany, no, the world, and with the help of others with his level of wealth, he can corral the world into the palm of his hand. An organization of individuals controlling the fates thanks to his discovery.

"When will these men arrive, I can't wait forever, I must not stray from the timeline, that could be disastrous." Keel said, while tapping his foot on the marble floor, with an echo no one else but Keel could hear. The men were several minutes late, and considering the time of day, Keel hardly thought that they would encounter much traffic between their homes to here, however, not all men understand what will come to pass as Keel does. Having a map laid out in front of you by ancient scrolls listing the past, present, and future of mankind gives one a sense of finality for when the existence of man will cease.

It was afterhours at the U.N. Building, late at night, Keel, the representative of West Germany for the U.N., a position he bought for himself by the way, in order to put himself closer to those representing their own countries. He was waiting for four of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, to arrive. He saw several cars pull up outside. He waited for them to enter.

"Welcome, Gentleman." Keel said as they walked slowly towards him. The men had never seen him before, but were intrigued by the new West Germany ambassador and accepted his invitation. They were all wealthy men in their 30s, and were curious as to the business proposition Keel had for them.

"Good evening, Ambassador Lorenz." The U.S. ambassador, Theodore George Jackson, was the first to respond. "What an odd place to meet for a business proposition. I would think a hotel or an office would be more appropriate don't you?"

"Well, Mr. Jackson, seeing as what my proposition entails, I thought meeting here where countries are supposed to work in harmony would make more sense." Keel replied, and he continued. "Mr. Pinnafore, Mr. Bayuski, and Mr. Godot, good evening to you all as well."

"Good Evening, Ambassador." Henry James Pinnafore, the British Ambassador replied.

"Ambassador Lorenz." Boris Bayuski, the Russian Ambassador replied gruffly.

"Bonjour Ambassador." Francois Godot, the French Ambassador replied wistfully.

"No doubt you four are wondering why I have asked you this evening, well follow me this way and I will tell you." Keel said, looking to the men and motioning them to follow.

They began walking away from the entrance of the U.N. and then towards the council rooms where meetings were held, the men all stayed quiet for the walk, the sounds of their muffled footsteps on the carpeted floor were all that could be heard. After several minutes of walking, Keel stopped in front of a set of doors that Godot recognized immediately, and he broke the silence. "Why are we going into the Security Council Chambers, Lorenz? I thought we would be going to your office, non?"

"Unfortunately, Ambassador, I thought meeting in here would be a better fit for or conversation then my small office. Now shall we proceed?" Keel said coldly, while opening the door, and then walking inside towards the crescent shaped table that the Security Council uses for its official meetings. Keel sits in the middle of the fifteen chairs seated at the table, and motions for the other to sit. The ambassadors take a moment before they enter and sit down, apparently in shock at the fact the man who asked them to a meeting is sitting in the U.N.S.C. room. "Good, now that you have taken your seats, we may begin. Now the reason I have brought you here tonight is to discuss the future of the world, a future that, if you wish to, with your vast wealth and resources, can control. This may sound like the plan of a mad man, however, with the information I possess, it is possible. The information that makes this possible is a discovery of mine from six long years ago on the West Bank, a set of documents that has recorded the human race's past, present, and future. These documents are called the Dead Sea Scrolls."

"Qu'est–ce que l!"

"Vysokomernyy durak!"

"Jesus Christ!"

"Bloody Hell!"

"Yes, those were about the reactions I expected." Keel chortled. "I understand that the existence of such documents seems completely unfathomable, however, while the Scrolls are not filled the personal details of every life to have walked the planet, they give us the broad strokes of humanity's path, all the way up until the end of our days. With this I have garnered several facts about life on Earth, and that in fact a god had created us, but was not supposed to. There were two gods on this planet, one's offspring were killed in favor of the others, Lilith, from whom we are descended from defeated Adam, and let us begin to roam the Earth. Now, tell me, what do think of that?"

"Are you out of your mind!?" Shouted Ambassador Jackson. "How deluded are you to think that controlling the world is a good thing? Barely seven years have passed since some other nut job thought he could control the world and make humanity bow to him, look at him and the 12 million deaths he orchestrated. You should know this, Lorenz, he was a countryman of yours after all!"

"Your point is quite narrow minded, however, by doing this, we could control, with the vast resources we have at… " Keel began, but was cut off by Ambassador Godot. "What you are saying is that you wish us to begin to take over the world? You are mad, which means the rumors of you are true, unable to grasp reality is certainly barely scratching the surface of how out of touch you really are!"

"As I was saying." Keel continued. "With the resources we have, we can control those in power, what my countryman got wrong was being the face of evil in the public eye, however, if done correctly from the shadows, no one would know that we would be in control, it is the perfect plan."

"What you're saying is, we would be in control, but as a silent entity?" Ambassador Bayuski replied, with his eyebrows raised, and then looked to the other three ambassadors in the room. "Gentleman, as crazy as this sounds, it could be well worth guiding the human race to its fate, and with us all at the helm, we would know and be able to profit from this venture, would we not Lorenz?"

"Yes, we would profit from our control, because in order to gain control, and keep that control we would need money, and large sums of it at that." Keel responded. "So gentleman, have your outbursts subsided, and are you willing to join this organization?"

"Well, as nice as all this sounds, what if we are found out?" Ambassador Jackson said, looking Keel in the eyes as he spoke. "What do we do if your plan is found out?"

"Simple, we eliminate the problem." Keel said, staring right back.

"You mean… kill… " Jackson began.

"Only as a last resort, money solves more problems than murder does, except in all but extreme circumstances." Keel said calmly. "Nothing must stand in our way to gaining the control we rightfully deserve. So gentleman what is your final answer, would you like to join this initiative, or are you uninterested?"

"Why in the hell would we want to join?" Jackson said, somewhat incredulously.

"I thought that point had been made abundantly clear, more money than you possess now and the ability to control the world from an obscure position in the shadows." Keel said, but this time, he chuckled. "I thought I had kept the concept quite simple and straightforward, or was I mistaken?"

"Are you calling us idiots?!" Ambassador Bayuski yelled, slamming his fist into the table. "Arrogant fuck, who do you think you are?"

"I wasn't calling you idiots at all, based upon the words I chose, at worst I passively called you simple minded, there is no need to be so offended Ambassador, I was merely making an observation." Keel said coolly.

"Why don't you take your fucking observation, and shove it up your ass!" Ambassador Bayuski replied angrily.

"Gentlemen, why don't we calm down, and _listen_." It was Ambassador Godot who spoke but his words were directed towards Ambassadors Jackson and Bayuski. "Please continue Lorenz, what you are talking about, after the initial shock, is finally setting in."

"Thank you Ambassador, I'm glad at least one person is listening intently." Keel said. "Now, looking at your quieted rage Ambassador Bayuski, do you wish to join this endeavor? The question goes to you Ambassador Jackson."

"Well, if Godot can get behind it, I can, it certainly is a _unique_ opportunity." Jackson responded first, sighing slightly as he did. "Perhaps it's for the best, considering the last 50 years, things have not gone well for world, perhaps if someone were in control, or a group of people as you suggest, World War III could be averted, and nuts like Hitler could be kept in check, or, hell, even eliminated for the greater good."

"What a change, Ambassador, from just a few minutes ago, where you thought murder was just horrific, now it's simply a means to an end?" Keel said, basking in the irony and change of tune of the speaker.

"I've realized after Godot's little speech that this isn't as nutty of an idea as I thought it was, hell, it may even be like playing god, but to keep humanity on track, what's the harm in that?" Jackson replied.

"I wish this wasn't making any sense to me, but it is." Ambassador Bayuski said solemnly. "I guess there are some things that require a group effort, and leaving control of the world to the U.S. and France seems stupid, why should Mother Russia be left out of such a proposition!"

"Excellent, excellent." Keel said, sounding somewhat elated. "I'm glad you've all come around to my proposal. Now, one last thing gentleman, are there any further questions?" Keel asked.

"What's in it for us besides money and power?" Ambassador Godot asked, looking over at Keel intently.

"Besides the two things all men want more than anything else, anything you could ever want could be gotten with what I am offering you, gentleman." Keel responded, sending an icy glare towards the French Ambassador as he spoke. He then turned to face the British Ambassador, realizing throughout the entire exchange, he hadn't said a thing other than to express his shock at the proposal. "Ambassador Pinnafore, you're being awful quiet, anything on your mind?"

"The only thing on my mind is what would this organization be called?" Pinnafore questioned.

"Why, SEELE of course" Keel said proudly.

* * *

Thirty–nine Years Later… April 1992

"Chairman Keel, we have an updated report from the field." Said the large speaker displaying the name 'SEELE 04.'

Keel Lorenz is now 60 years old, and very different from the man he was when he found the scrolls. After founding SEELE and orchestrating many major events in the ladder half of the 20th century with his four partners in crime, they expanded to include 7 new members, bringing the council to 12 men of power by 1970. The somewhat peaceful methods of SEELE, killing for the greater good, quickly evaporated, and killing those that would be an obstruction to. "The Committee" became a common, if not expected practice. People did know of them, however, by calling SEELE. "The Committee" because they did not know its name or purpose certainly added an air of mystery to them, making them all the more intimidating.

Now according to the conspiracy theorists, which Keel was surprised by how accurate they were considering SEELE's motives and operating practices, a litany of events in the world had been orchestrated by them, the Cold War and arms race the Cuban Missile Crisis, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the space race, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, having an actor elected President of a major world power, even the recent Gulf War, fall of the USSR and unification of Germany. All of these, Keel admitted to himself, were orchestrated by SEELE, and he was proud of how well the world fell into line behind their orders.

Now with their plans being set further in motion with teams scouring the globe for the. "seeds" referenced in the Dead Sea Scrolls, an organization they founded would be carrying out their plans, and allowing them the same shadowy distance from the process, the organization's name? Gehirn. And with the research that was being done at the Artificial Evolution Laboratory of Gehirn, and Keel's life's work, the Human Instrumentality Project, would eventually come to fruition.

Keel is sitting in a large dark room, occupied with large black speakers, and it from these speakers the organization uses to stay in contact with one another. They had the world in their grasp, able to control the financial markets and the military of the world, all the while staying at the U.N. making contacts for whatever they may need those individuals for. Any whims they had, or any change needed to stick with the path of the Dead Sea Scrolls was able to be done in this room, decisions disseminated from its members to their respective governments, people always reacting as expected, doing whatever was willed to happen in this room and making it a reality.

Keel Lorenz rises and faces the other speakers in the room, large black speakers like one would expect to see in a concert hall, all embossed with the word 'SEELE' and a number, as 'SEELE 04' spoke, a large light on top of it flashed to indicate incoming audio from that speaker. "Please, inform the council on the newest matters in the search."

"It appears that the search for the seed of life has been unsuccessful in both Asia and Europe." 'SEELE 04' said.

"Well then, it appears that for everything we have done, by looking on five continents over the last 30 years have led to nothing." 'SEELE 02' responded.

"Not all is lost, Japan still needs to be searched, as does Australia, and Africa still has some ground to cover, not to mention Antarctica." Keel said. "I believe our report from last week was that Katsuragi's team has moved from Asia to Horn of Africa to expedite the search for Adam, following that area, Australia is next."

"That is correct." 'SEELE 10' replied. "If the expedition in Australia fails, within the next four years, Katsuragi will be moving to go into Antarctica and look there for what we seek."

"Very Well." Keel said. "That Katsuragi is a very persistent bastard, said we should start in the Antarctic, however, now it seems as though he may have been right. As of right now, put the search of Japan on the backburner, we will move to finish things up in Africa and Australia, then move to the Antarctic, in a few years we may have what we are looking for, and then our plans can truly begin."

"I concur." 'SEELE 02' said.

"As do I." 'SEELE 05' quipped.

"Then it is settled, gentleman, until we meet again." Keel said, and then flipped a switch that shut off the speakers and microphone he spoke into. He then stood up and began to walk out of the room, a sinister smile now crossing his face as he walked to the door.

"Soon it will come to pass… "

To Be Continued

* * *

A/N: I do not own Evangelion or any of the characters, GAINAX and the other distributors of NGE related material do. I am simply using them as a backdrop for my fanfic.

So that was the first chapter of the first episode of my fanfic. I kinda have it planned out to be three arcs of three episodes each. (Sound familiar to anyone?) Yes, the title of the episode was deliberate, however, it will be the only exactly copied title of a Star Wars movie for these nine episodes.

This first episode deals with the origins of some of the adult characters from NGE, and this episode is exclusively pre–second impact. For this chapter, I decided to start off with SEELE considering they were behind the majority of the events in the TV series and rebuild series, and the reason I chose the. " _The Phantom Menace_ " as the title. There will be a theme to the titles of the episodes, and only Episodes I though VII will be based off of an official Star Wars title. The chapter titles on the other hand will either be whimsical or ironic (depending on your view), and some will be based off of movie or song titles. As of uploading this chapter, I have uploaded Episode I in its entirety for your reading pleasure. I wanted to get a jump start and finish the. "Origins Arc" before getting into the. "Angels Arc"

Also as a note, Keel finding the Dead Sea Scrolls himself, and setting a year of birth for him shows how old he'll be in 2015. Also, yes, I couldn't resist the Nazi gold reference, considering how evil he was, I assumed his father was Nazi, and well, where else would a total dickbag get a load of cash? My answer was Nazi gold. Also, a reference to Dr. Katsuragi, the father of our favorite purple haired tease in 2015, and yes, SEELE killed JFK, and got Ronnie elected into office. Pretty much, I made SEELE the reason for the last 55 years of the 20th century.

Please leave comments, as I would like to try to improve the story any way I can. And, hell, constructive criticism is a good thing.

* * *

つづく


	2. The Professor

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Legacy  
Episode I: The Phantom Menace

* * *

Chapter 2 – The Professor  
1988 – Kyoto University

Two men were sitting in the president's office at the University; it was a beautiful room, furnished with mahogany paneling and a view out onto the sprawling campus that was Kyoto University. One man in the office was obviously the president, sitting at an equally impressive desk made of redwood imported from California. The president had ordered the desk specially to furnish his new office, it was his first month on the job after all, and once the "honeymoon" period had worn off he had a lot of work to do, including hiring some new facility members.

He had hired professors for all of the subjects taught at the university save for one, science. He had folders piled comically high on his desk, each one holding an applicant's pertinent information. The pile on the left side of his desk (the tall one) were the rejects, and the smaller pile on the right were those who were left to be interviewed. He had been searching for nearly two weeks now, to no avail, for a suitable candidate who had sense of humor, and more importantly (and hard to find for a scientist) people skills. One of the last interviewees was sitting across from him.

The man across from him was young, tall, and had an air about him that said he was as smart as they come. He sat in a rigid posture befitting a man in the military. He wore a tweed jacket, and a tie, and looked slightly nervous, but still, remarkably calm.

The president took the man's file and began reading from it, in a dull voice. "Born 9th April, 1959, genius level intellect, I.Q. 150, graduated top of your class at Osaka University in 1980, majored in biology and philosophy, masters in the same subjects and in chemistry and physics in 1982 from University of Tokyo, did your doctorate work there as well, in, let's see here, Bioengineering… and Metaphysical Biology!?" The last part caught the president by surprise. "That is a very interesting subject, maybe 30 or 35 folks on the planet with a doctorate like that. That was in 1986. Taught philosophy and biology at Tokyo for two years, and then quit, hmmm. I mean, this is quite an impressive resume. What would make you want to teach here in Kyoto? You seem much more suited to Tokyo, considering your studies, and seeing as you lived and worked in Tokyo for so long?" The man sitting at his large desk put the folder down he was reading from to look at the man in front of him. "Not even 30 years old yet, and already a college professor with a couple of complicated sounding doctorates." The man sitting across from the University President was Kozo Fuyutsuki.

Kozo, in his ever present calm voice responded. "Sir, I wish for a change of scenery to a different region of our fair country, and to teach students my about doctoral subject, Tokyo would not allow me to expand my courses to cover the subject, however, I heard that here, you are all a bit more open minded about different ideas than in Tokyo, I'd also like to do research as well, which is easier in an environment not clouded by closed minds."

"That's all well and good, and according to your recommendations here from your previous department head and university president, you are more than qualified educationally speaking, however _I_ am looking for something more." The president responded, leaning back in his chair to survey the man in front him, and he continued. "I want a professor here that can actually understand a student's needs, and just be some stogy old scientist with no interpersonal skills, and, frankly, a non–existent sense of humor."

Kozo leaned forward slightly in his chair. "I don't know about the sense of humor, sir, however I do understand my students. If you look in the back of the folder, you will see recommendations from student who have earned A's, B's, and C's in my classes, none of the students ever say anything bad about my classes, or me for that matter."

The president raised his eyebrows. "What about the students who earned D's or failed your classes?"

"I've never had a student who got below a 74 in any of my classes, I give assistance to those students who need it, to help them succeed. I had a teacher like that when I was young, and I strive to be as helpful and open minded as possible to my students as he was with his." Kozo replied confidently.

The president sat in silence for a moment, apparently taking in the fact that the man was willing to help his students succeed. 'This guy, could be what I'm looking for, even without a sense of humor, having an excellent professor around who takes an interest in his students is a wonderful thing.' The president broke from his thoughts and looked back at Kozo and pressed a button on the phone on his desk. "Minako, cancel the rest of my interviews please."

"Yes, sir." Was the slightly garbled response from the intercom.

Kozo raised an eyebrow at this statement, and made a motion as if he was about to speak, but the president cut him off. "Considering your dedication to your students, and your résumé, I would consider it a great honor for you to teach here at Kyoto University. Now, you will be able to conduct research here, and in a few years, maybe we will offer you the ability to do a doctoral program, but in the meantime, I would like you to set up lesson plans for Metaphysical Biology, Biology, and Bioengineering, and perhaps one course for Philosophy, considering you are also qualified to teach that."

"Thank you very much sir, I'm sure what to say." Kozo responded, while bowing his head in appreciation."

"You could accept the offer, Professor Fuyutsuki." The president said, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Of course, sir, I accept quite humbly." Kozo said, head still bowed.

"Well then, welcome aboard!" the president of the university said enthusiastically.

* * *

1991 – Kyoto University

"Good afternoon class." Professor Fuyutsuki said to his class.

"Good afternoon Professor Fuyutsuki." Was the class' halfhearted response.

Fuyutsuki chuckled to himself, students never seemed agreeable to greeting the professor, no matter how well behaved they were, or how much they liked the man. In his three years at Kyoto University, he had never gotten a bad student review at the end of a term, he was deemed fair with the assignment workload he gave, and was a fair grader, not too strict, but stern when it was needed. He was always willing to listen to the opinion of a student, even if it was based only in opinion, and not fact. After all, Metaphysical Biology was the study of something without a concrete answer, so being harsh on student's opinions was counterproductive; all the same, Fuyutsuki enjoyed teaching here, with an open minded environment that fostered his ideas about life and the universe.

"Well, today, we are deviating from our scheduled lesson, to listen to a guest lecturer how thought her research might be insightful to our subject matter. Now what she will be talking about will be on our next test." A collective groan came from the class. "Now, now, it will only be a portion of the test, so be sure to take notes and pay attention, as she is our guest, please give her your upmost attention and respect. Dr. Akagi, please come in."

"Thank you, Professor Fuyutsuki, for having me." The doctor walked in with a large suitcase in one hand, and a young girl who looked remarkably like her in the other. The doctor looked quite flustered, as if she had been running late. "I apologize, but I was unable to find a sitter to watch my daughter." She tilted her head in the young girl's direction.

"Not a problem doctor, she can take any open seat she likes." He looked at the young girl as he spoke, she looked quite unhappy to be here, with a very uninterested and angry look on her face, and her body language suggested she would rather be at home watching TV than be in a stuffy lecture hall with people three times her age. She was also rubbing her left cheek with her hand. 'Perhaps she has a loose tooth, poor girl.' Fuyutsuki thought.

"Ritsuko, could you please go sit over at that desk in the front row, next to the professor?" Dr. Akagi told her daughter in a quiet but stern voice. Without verbally acknowledging her mother, Ritsuko walked over to the empty desk next to Fuyutsuki and sat down with a. "humph" escaping from her pouting face.

"Good afternoon class, my name is Dr. Naoko Akagi. I am the head scientist at the Artificial Evolution Laboratory. I have several doctorates, including computer engineering, bioengineering, and chemical engineering. I am currently working on the next generation of supercomputers. I have brought a video to show you about the work at the AEL, so you have an idea about where I work, before I get too into detail about my own research." As she said this, she flipped a switch on the podium, which began lowering a projection screen over the blackboard, as it was rolling into place, Dr. Akagi inserted the videotape into the podium, and it began to play. The tape droned on about the goals and research initiatives of the AEL, talking about supercomputers with the human condition, and something about the Human Instrumentality Project, there were also mentions of the funding source of the AEL, Gehirn, a scientific organization dedicated to finding the origins of man. The video, it seemed was more of a PR stunt than an informational video.

Fuyutsuki was, nonetheless, quite intrigued with the video, and what it was discussing, he wondered about how a computer would function with the human condition plastered onto its circuits. He was more curious however, of what the research into the evolution of man was. 'Instrumentality sounds like an interesting topic, something I'll have to look into in my spare time.' He chuckled to himself, between his teaching schedule (which included 9 classes), and his own personal research into the. "soul" he hardly had time for sleep, let alone looking into interesting topics of research.

After 50 minutes of boring information, the video concluded, the class, save for Fuyutsuki, looked like they were about to pass out from sheer boredom. Dr. Akagi broke the silence in the room. "Well, that was an interesting video, don't you think? Now that that's out of the way, we can begin to discuss my work at AEL. Now, to be fair, the majority of this work is classified." The class, which had been somewhat uninterested in the speech and video so far, looked up, much more interested than it had been a few minutes ago.

Dr. Akagi continued on. "I see that has caught your attention. Well, as I said in the beginning of this lecture, I am working on the next generation of supercomputers, to make them not only more powerful, but also make them organic. Now, several generations of organic computers have been created thus far, but nothing powerful enough to compile and analyze massive sums of data. I have created two generations of these organic computers, the fifth generation, codenamed LAZARUS, used an actual brain donated to science at the person's time of death as its core, which was integrated with a standard computer motherboard with processors and other components. This generation worked extremely well, and proved that a brain can function as a computer processor. The sixth, and current generation, codenamed EVE, was the first to utilize a synthetic brain that mimicked not only hard drive functions, but rudimentary RAM and CPU operations as well. It was also programmed with an A.I. to sort through the data and make logical conclusions based on fact." The class, who had been taking notes from the point she uttered the word. "classified" were astonished, that a brain could be part of a computer. Fuyutsuki was also impressed, and this work, in his opinion anyway, certainly did have something to do with moving a soul from one vessel to another.

Dr. Akagi continued. "Now the new generation I am working on will utilize three separate computers with synthetic brains, using an imprint of a person on each of the three. Now what makes this project special is implanting the human condition into the computers, as indicated in the video." She gestured to the now blank screen. "Each supercomputer will receive one aspect of a person's personality, for instance, the scientist, the mother, and the woman. Each part, by using conflicting aspects of a person's personality, it creates a system that will work to find the best possible solution to a problem. The supercomputers will be linked together make logical decisions, and once in agreement a solution voted on by the units will be the output of the data that was input into the system. Now I do realize this is a lot to process, and I believe we have time for one question." Fuyutsuki raised his hand. "Yes professor, what is your question?"

"Dr. Akagi, what is the codename of this generation of supercomputers you're currently working on, and when do you expect to have them completed by?"

"That is a very excellent question, professor. Now concerning when they will be completed by, the EVE system was just completed a few months ago, and looking ahead, I have at least 8 to 10 years of research and development to accomplish before bringing the new system online, barring of course, any natural disasters or calamities that would affect research." Dr. Akagi said. "The name of the system I only recently came up with. It will be called the MAGI system."

* * *

1996 – Kyoto University

Fuyutsuki is sitting at his desk deep in thought. The reason for this pensiveness was that he is reviewing doctoral applications for the new Metaphysical Biology program he was setting up. Similar to when he was hired by the university president, there was a large pile of applications and folders on the side of the desk, with seven folders left in front of him, and he was making his final selections. There was a knock at the door, which caused Fuyutsuki to look up from his work. "Enter."

"Good afternoon Professor, how are you today?" The university president asked.

"I'm doing well, thank you, Mr. President." Fuyutsuki replied.

"I see you got all of the folders I sent over to you last week, have you made you final decisions yet?" The president said as he looked over at the large pile off to one side of the desk, with seven open folders on the desk in front of Fuyutsuki.

"I've narrowed it down to seven candidates, sir." Fuyutsuki gestured to the folders open at his desk.

"How many scientists will you be recruiting for your doctoral program?" The university president asked intently.

"Well, these three here have the most promise, all intelligent young women, especially this one, extremely young, but exceptionally bright for her age, 14 you know, these two here, both highly qualified, and seem very eager. Looking at her both of their theses, their ideas have merit, and deserved to be looked into further. Oddly enough, both mention about transferring the human 'soul' between people and other types of beings, it's all very impressive theory, I'd like to give the three of them a chance, I'm quite sure they will do quite well here." Fuyutsuki replied.

"Well considering how impressed you are with the three of them, I see no reason not to have all of them be under your tutelage for the Metaphysical Biology doctoral program. For all we know, these three girls will change the world." The university president said.

"With ideas like theirs, it is entirely possible to change the world as we currently understand it." Fuyutsuki said, with a hint of pride in his voice.

"So when should we contact these three lucky individuals?" The university president asked, looking at the names of each of them.

"Well I believe I should send them each a letter requesting their presence here at the university." Fuyutsuki said as he smiled. "The good news will be in the letter, of course, but I would like to meet them and have them move onto the campus, preferably in the same dorm. If that's possible of course."

"It is more than possible, professor, I believe we can get each of the girls a private room, maybe even in on the same floor. I'll look into it for the beginning next term." The university president replied.

"Thank you, sir, I appreciate it very much." Fuyutsuki bowed his head with thanks once again.

"It's not a problem for the one of the most liked professors on campus. Now get those letters out to Ms. Ikari, Ms. Soryu, and Ms. Makinami by tomorrow, and I'll deal with finding them rooms." The university president said as he left the office.

"I'll get it done sir." Fuyutsuki said as the President closed the door.

To Be Continued

* * *

A/N: I do not own Evangelion or any of the characters, GAINAX and the other distributors of NGE related material do. I am simply using them as a backdrop for my fanfic.

Well that's Chapter 2, now I do realize that Naoko Akagi butted her ugly head into Fuyutsuki's chapter, but it seemed relevant to start introducing other characters and begin to weave the origin of Evangelion out of this mess I call fiction writing. Also, I am taking inspiration not only from the TV and Rebuild series, but also Sadamoto's Manga, which I do like for Shinji's backbone, more Kaji, and a different side of Gendo, and the love you see from Asuka towards Shinji after he saves her ass from the MP EVAs when her unit shuts down. I will admit however that manga Kaworu is a kitten murderer, and is in way a good representation of Kaworu, and also the ending of the manga is a bit weird, but then again, what ending for Evangelion isn't a little weird.

Notice I also made mention of our character's mothers, and a short glimpse of our cold bottle blonde scientist, Ritsuko. And, yes, Mari will be included in this story, her origin chapter is coming up, and I think I found a good way to explain her ability to pilot an EVA and why she still looks 16 in rebuild.

Anywho, as I said before, and will always say at the end of chapter, please leave comments, as I would like to try to improve the story going forward any way I can. And, hell, constructive criticism is a good thing.

* * *

つづく


	3. The Man with the Iron Face

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Legacy  
Episode I: The Phantom Menace

* * *

Chapter 3 – The Man with the Iron Face  
1992 – Osaka, Japan

A young man is walking down the street after having another argument in another bar, and he gets thrown out for getting into another fight. Fights always start because he doesn't agree with people. 'Hell, people are stupid and ignorant.' The only reason he was at the bar was due to another argument he had at a different bar that ended the same way. Wherever this man went, ever since he was a child, people disliked him and his opinions. The differences in opinion usually ended up in violence. This man was one sorry bastard by the name of Gendo Rokubungi.

He had had a hard life up to this point in time. He was born as a twin, and was the first born, however, his twin sister was a stillborn. This led his parents to dislike him, and some would say, they even blamed Gendo for Rei's death. He was teased in school, ignored by his family, despised by his mother, and beat on by his father, the now 25–year–old had dealt with that part of his life long ago. Just before he turned 18, his father was berating him about one of his. "opinions" that his father didn't agree with. Gendo refused to change his opinion for the sake of pleasing his asshole of a father, and after receiving another wonderful beating from the prick, Gendo left the house to wander the streets of Osaka on his own. When his mother and father went out to dinner, which they did every year to mourn the loss of the daughter they never knew, they got into a horrific car crash. Both his parents died on impact, not suffering for very long before death took them. According to the police report of the crash, the brakes of his car failed and he slammed headlong into a highway barrier and crashed in a ravine, he had been going 150 k/h in a 100 k/h zone. Gendo was not surprised at hearing the news, stating simply. "The way that man drove, it was only a matter of time, if only my mother had been driving, they may have lived."

Many thought that Gendo himself had sent his parents to their deaths by cutting the brake lines, and that he should be brought up on murder charges for the death of his parents, however an inspection of the car showed that the brake lines had corroded, and should have been replaced. Gendo laughed to himself while thinking of this, knowing that acid he had poured into the brake fluid had slowly weakened the lines until they were ready to burst, and they did, taking his shitty parents with them. 'They did deserve it after all.' Gendo thought. 'I never had a birthday party, and was always treated like some sort of monster. It's not my fault my sister died in the womb, but they certainly loved blaming me for it. They celebrated her every year though, and ignored me. I would have loved to have a twin sister, at least maybe I would've had a friend that cared about me. I have never known happiness or friendship, and never will. My father always beat me because I didn't agree with his antiquated opinions of life, where Japan should be in control of the Pacific, with the rest of the world quivering at our strength, the stupid old man.'

Gendo thought about these old memories whenever he got into a fight. He might put on a steely rigid exterior, but inside, Gendo was still the hurt little boy who wanted a friend. 'If I ever have kids, I will treat them better than my parents treated me, I don't know if I'm capable of love, but I think if I find the right person someday, maybe I will be.' Gendo hated when he thought like this, but they were his true feelings. He hadn't been shown much kindness in his life, other than when he was little in school, he remembered having a friend, but after the friend came over to the house to play after school, his father decided to give Gendo a beating in front of his new friend. From then on, no one would be Gendo's friend, and he would be teased as the boy whose father beat him and who his mother hated.

This lack of kindness meant that Gendo cared little about what others thought of him, and even less about other people's opinions about anything. This made him abrasive and what others would call. "hateful towards others." If they only knew that showing him some kindness would make him less hostile, but most people don't think like that. Gendo did occasionally, when his conscience was actually functioning, would do kind deeds for others, but each time, there wasn't even a simple thank you, which simply reaffirmed his opinion of humanity as they will never be able to understand each other, even though they think they are capable of understanding, they aren't. 'People are such sad creatures.' Gendo thought, getting nearer to his apartment. 'People think they need their parents, but people only truly live and grow by their own strength, only infants need parents, I learned to stand on my own two feet and was able to walk without the help of my parents, and now, I can live without them.'

Coming out of his internal monologue and looking around him, it took him a moment to realize where he was. He had lost track of where he was walking while he was talking to himself. He saw based on the street he was on, he was only a few blocks from his apartment now, and close to the relative safety and solitude that he enjoyed more than the company of others. However, before he turned on the street he lived on, he had to walk past an electronics store on the corner with a bright display showing off some of the merchandise in the store. Gendo, having nothing else to do, walked over to the display and looked, there were cassette players of all types in the window, he saw a cassette player he liked and decided to buy it. 'Well, at least with that I can ignore the people around me, and maybe avoid getting into as many fights as I do, and maybe I'll think less about the past.'

Gendo opened the door to the store and walked up shelves inside the store, grabbing a few tapes to go along with the player he wished to purchase, and also a package of batteries so he could use it once he got home. Once he had grabbed his selections, he walked up to man at the counter, and pointed to the cassette player he wanted. "I would like to buy these and that SDAT there, please."

"Sure thing sir." The boy pulled the player in the case out and entered the price of it and the other items Gendo had picked out. "That will be ¥5,600 please."

Gendo walked out of the store, with his purchase in hand. As he walked he opened the player, put in the batteries and, opened one of the tapes. By the time he was at his apartment, he was listening to one of the tapes he bought, deeply immersed in the music he was listening to, and for once, he was content with the world around him.

* * *

1994 – Osaka Japan

Gendo was walking outside, it was well past dusk, and the moon was high in the sky above him. He was listening to music on his trusty SDAT, ignoring the world around him. In the last few years since he bought it, his mood had improved, mostly due to the fact that he ignored those around him in favor of the music playing on the SDAT kept in his pocket.

He was walking to an out of the way bar that happened to be close to the university. He was longing for a drink, even if he would only be at the bar for a few drinks before the long walk back to his apartment on the other side of town. The reason he was going so far out of the way was that this was one of the only bars in the city that hadn't thrown him out on his ass for excessive fighting. 'Well, there are college students here, they may be more informed about life then the fools elsewhere in this sad excuse for a town.' Gendo thought as strolled towards the neon sign, looking inside before entering, he noticed there were a great many women inside the bar. A small grin crossed his face as he entered.

He walked up to the bar and ordered a drink, the bartender gave him a look, but didn't say anything directly. 'Probably thinks I'm too old to be in here, the little prick.' Gendo thought, as he put money on the bar to pay for his drink, a scotch on the rocks, and he began to look around. The people around him were in their early 20s, while Gendo himself was 27, not very much older, but he did look older due to the stony face he had put on for the world. There were many more women in the bar then men, and that wasn't a bad thing, at least to Gendo. 'They all are least nice to look at, but I bet they wouldn't give me the time of day anyway.' Gendo took a sip of his drink, and continued to contemplate the room in front of him. 'It's probably better they don't talk to me, I do always get nervous around women, and I'm not sure why… '

After sitting quietly at the corner of the bar's counter and finishing off three glasses of scotch, he ordered his fourth. 'Last one, and then I walk back, I can't be too drunk or I'll get lost on the way home.' The fourth glass was brought to him by the young bartender who took the cash Gendo had left for him.

'At least the old guy tips well.' The boy thought.

Just then a young woman staggered over, clearly three sheets to the wind and having trouble standing up, let alone walking. She sat down with a 'thwump' next to Gendo and ordered something, a Mediterranean Martini, Gendo looked over at her, bemused at what he saw. She was very beautiful, with blonde hair, she was thin with large breasts and (from what he remembered from before she sat down) quite a nice looking ass. The woman saw Gendo looking at her and began to strike up a conversation with him, which in her current condition amounted to a lot of flirting and overt sexual references, which Gendo didn't mind so much, but they did make him blush. "So handsome, like what ya see?"

"Hmm?" Gendo looked up, clearly not expecting the woman to talk with him. "What did you say?" He sounded quite bemused when he responded to her query.

"I _said_ do you like what you see. You look like you're stripping me naked with your eyes." She giggled as she said this, and turned to face him.

"I apologize, I didn't mean to offend you." Gendo said, for once in his life, he looked slightly embarrassed.

"Why are you apologizing? It's not a bad thing to look at a girl with lust in your eyes, silly man." She giggled again, unable to control herself. "And you still didn't answer my question, and _I'm waiting_ for a response."

"Well… yes, I, uh… do like what I see." Gendo had continued to look at her, she was wearing capris with a tight tank top that accentuated her curves nicely. As he responded to her question she leaned forward a bit to show off her cleavage more, and she giggled again as she did.

"I'm glad you like what you see, because I certainly like what _I_ see." She said. "I've been watching you since you came in from over there." She pointed to a table in the corner with three more girls sitting there, that looked even more drunk than she did. "I thought you looked cute coming in listening to that tape player you have in your pocket. But I don't recognize you, do you go to the university?"

"No, I don't go to this university." Gendo responded, he was more confused by the fact that she had been watching him for some time now, apparently from when he walked in. "What made you watch me this whole time?"

"Because I thought you were cute, dummy." She giggled again. "That and I thought you'd be good in bed." At this comment she winked at him. Gendo didn't get the hint, and in her drunken state, even the young drunk girl noticed the look of utter confusion on his face. "What haven't you ever been picked up by a hot drunk girl before?"

"No, I have not." Gendo replied, doing his best to keep from looking too embarrassed.

"What?! That seems impossible, a good looking guy like you." She poked him on the chest with her finger, in a playfully accusing way. "You've got to be lying."

"No, there is no reason to lie about something like this." Gendo said. He was getting more confused by the second, as smart as he was, he just couldn't understand women.

"Hang on… " The girl realized something, which was so blatantly obvious she picked up on it in her inebriated state, and without thinking she asked. "Does that make you a virgin?!"

"Wh… what?" Gendo stuttered, completely taken aback by this girl's most recent question.

"What are you, deaf or something, I asked if you were a _virgin_." She put a heavy emphasis on the last word.

"I don't see how that is any of your concern… " Gendo responded, he sounded a bit annoyed now, even her beauty didn't mean she just got to ask random strangers such personal questions.

"That's a yes then." She said, eyeing him closely. 'Weird,' She thought to herself 'You would think a guy like this would be a ladies man or something. Women like the strong silent type, don't they? Must just be me then.'

"I still don't see how that your business, miss… " Gendo responded trying to get a name out of the girl.

"I'm making it my business." She giggled again. "And I'm not telling you my name yet, you have to _earn_ that." She winked at him again, then reached and grabbed ahold of Gendo's hand. "Well then, I guess it's time for you to finish that drink of yours, because you're coming back to my apartment for some fun." She then leaned in and kissed him hard on the lips, and then began to pull him up and drag him towards the door.

At this Gendo simply stared and followed behind the young woman as she pulled him towards her room.

To Be Continued

* * *

A/N: I do not own Evangelion or any of the characters, GAINAX and the other distributors of NGE related material do. I am simply using them as a backdrop for my fanfic.

Ha, Gendo, the man is still a bit of dick, but, I imagine that his aversion to people is his being treated like shit his whole life. Notice, his twin sister was to be named Rei? I thought that would be an interesting twist. And, yes, he killed his parents, but they were assholes, so, what else is a genius level jerk going to do? Also, the purchase of the SDAT was a late addition to the first part of the chapter. I figured it had to come from somewhere, why not an electronics store he passed by every day he came home from getting beat up in a bar. I also used Gendo's speech from the anime/manga from the graveyard scene to illustrate that his shit environment turned him off to people. I like Gendo's character, yes, I know he left Shinji emotionally broken, but one doesn't become that way just cause his wife died, I figure Yui was his Limit Break into being a cold, calculating sociopath. But on a happier note, I do find the Raising Project Gendo is better than any other Gendo in any NGE work.

Also, in a later episode, you will find out who the woman is, and I hope you will be shocked, or at least do a double take when you read it. And, I was avoiding dealing with any lemon or lemonade material so soon in my first ever fanfic, that's why the chapter ends before anything happens.

The chapter title is based on, of course. " _The Man in the Iron Mask_ " punned off the fact Gendo looks as though he had a heavy dose of Botox in the anime.

As I said before, and will always say at the end of chapter, please leave comments, as I would like to try to improve the story going forward any way I can. And, hell, constructive criticism is a good thing.

* * *

つづく


	4. Genius, Scientist, Homemaker

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Legacy  
Episode I: The Phantom Menace

* * *

Chapter 4 – Genius, Scientist, Homemaker  
1992 – Kyoto, Japan

A 15–year–old girl was sitting in her room at her desk. The desk was littered with formulas and homework assignments from school. In the corner of the desk sat a CRT monitor which was open to an online encyclopedia. However, the girl wasn't doing homework at her desk (like she should be), or even working on the complicated looking formulas she had on her desk (which were of her own creation), she was writing in her diary about her day, writing about her hopes, and her dreams. She had always been like this, the perpetual optimist, as her grandmother, Hanako Ayanami always said. The girl was a certified, Grade–A genius, but she didn't let that get in the way of her being as girly as possible. As smart as she was, she wanted to have a family someday, and hoped to meet the man of her dreams someday too. That's why she wrote all of her thoughts down in her diary to keep track of what she was looking for in husband.

She had just gotten home from her first day of high school, Class 1–A, where the higher performing students were placed. She went to a private high school because of her high intelligence, and was still placed in the smartest class for first year students. It had been a wonderful day. She met a lot new people, and learned a lot. But she was still missing something, a boyfriend. Being as girly as she was, having a boyfriend at her tender age was something she had wished for quite a bit, however, her class was mostly girls, and the few boys that were in there she had classified as. "hentai" due to the fact they kept using their vast knowledge and intelligence to try and get a look up at any of the girl's panties.

Other than that concerning thought, she would look for a boyfriend that would make her happy, and treat her like a person, not an object. "Yui… time for dinner." The girl's mother called up the stars, breaking young Yui Ikari out of her trance about boys and boyfriends.

"I'll be down in a minute mother!" She called back. 'Boy she has great timing, I was in the middle of a nice daydream.' She sighed and looked down at her diary, and finished the thought she had, then closed it. She stood up and stretched, the young girl was tall for her age, a little taller than the average girl, and she brushed her long brunette hair out of her face and headed for her bedroom door. She looked back to her desk at the mess she left behind, and sighed. 'I didn't even touch my homework.' She thought, and it was true, since getting home she had accomplished little to nothing, save for writing in her diary. She would look at the homework later on in the evening, after dinner, and probably complete it quite swiftly. 'It should be pretty easy, I am a genius after all.' She blushed and chuckled at the comment she made to herself and left her room to go get some dinner.

She wandered downstairs to the dining room to see sitting at the table her father, mother, grandmother, and… her brother? He hadn't been home in six months, and she was glad to see him. The chair next to him was open, and as she walked toward the table, her brother called out. "Took you long enough sis, what where you doing up there, napping?"

"Shinji, stop being so mean, whenever you've home from college you always make fun of me, when you're gone you don't even bother to call and say hello." Her eyes welled up with tears. "Can't you just be nice and say hello first?" Her voice cracked as she spoke.

"Oh, don't cry sis." Shinji got up from the table and hugged his younger sister. "I was just kidding with you, why are you always so sensitive? Can't you take a joke anymore?"

"Well, maybe if you were home more, I'd be used to your jokes." She hugged him back tightly. "It's nice to see you home from the academy, dummy."

"Well, ya know, a military academy is no easy place to study, but it is good to be home." Shinji released his sister from the hug, but she wouldn't let go. "Come on sis, if you let go, we can eat _and_ talk."

"Ok, Shinji." Yui dried her eyes and sat down.

Her mother came in with a platter filled with her brother's favorites, pork ramen, pork curry rice, and tonkatsu, with a variety of vegetables of course.

Digging into the food in front of her, Yui turned to her brother. "So what have you been studying, Shinji?"

Shinji, having just taken a huge bite of food, struggled to swallow and answer Yui's question. "Well, I've studied all of the regular courses any normal college student would study, and some military themed things as well, like. "The Art of War", and military discipline. Right now, I'm third in my class, and graduation is just around the corner."

"What branch of the service will you be going into?" Yui's grandmother asked. "Will you be in the Imperial Army like your grandfather?"

"Grandma, it's the JGSDF now, and no, I'm not one for the front line action running around with 70kg of gear on me. Nope, no army for me, I wanna be a pilot with the JASDF." Shinji said proudly. "But before I do that, I'm going to go to officer candidate school for the air force, and then I'll be accepted in as an officer. Thankfully my application for Officer Candidate School was accepted."

"More school before you join the Defense Forces?" Yui said, her eyes wide with shock. "And… you wanna be… a pilot? Isn't that dangerous?" She looked at her brother with quite a worried look on her face.

"Don't worry Yui, I promise you I'll be careful. Besides we're only defense forces, so as long as no one invades Japan, or as long as no crazy people with small mustaches try to take over the world again, I should be fine. I'll only be doing training missions and stuff like that." He leaned over as he said this and hugged his sister, as he did that, he moved close to her ear and whispered. "I promise I won't be reckless or anything, ok? Just please don't cry again, I hate it when you cry."

Yui nodded in agreement, and hugged her brother back. "Even though you can be mean sometimes, I always knew that you cared."

* * *

1996 – Tokyo University

**_♪_ _Ding dong ding ding… ding dong ding ding♪_ **

Class had just ended, and 19 –year–old Yui Ikari was having a wonderful day. She had just gotten another 100 on an important biology test, and today she was expecting her weekly letter from her brother, which would be extra special today because if it came it would be the first one in a month. 'He must be busy.' Yui thought. Shinji, who was based way out in Misawa, wrote when he could, but sometimes missions or training kept him from writing. Perhaps she'd finally get an answer back about the doctoral program in Kyoto as well. She finished high school in one year, at the insistence of her brother. "Don't waste that great mind of yours, sis, you should be in college, not stuck in high school." He said to her during her first year in high school, so near the end of the school year, she took the high school equivalency exam, and applied to Tokyo University. Yui was proud of herself for taking the exam, and was glad to start college. She finished her undergrad work in two years, by taking as many classes as she could, the work wasn't hard for her, after all, as she constantly reminded herself, she was a genius. Now, working on her Master's in biochemical engineering, she was at a very happy place in her life, now all she was waiting for was an acceptance letter to begin working on her doctorate.

Yui had been walking to the campus post office to pick up her mail, going inside, the woman at the desk, recognized her and grabbed a small pile of envelopes from her mailbox, and handed them over. "Here you are Ms. Ikari, it looks like you got something from Misawa today." And she winked. Yui was ecstatic, she couldn't wait to her of what her brother had been up to now.

She rushed back to her dorm room to read the mail, once she got to her room, she entered. "Tadaima!" She said, and with no response, Yui knew her roommate was not back from class yet. 'Probably with her girlfriends.' Yui thought. Her roommate was a nice enough girl, but was very dismissive of "brainiacs" like Yui, so the two didn't interact very much. She tossed her stuff down next to her desk and plopped on her futon. She found the letter from her brother on top, and hastily ripped it open. Inside was a photograph of her brother, goofy smile and all standing next to a large combat fighter, loaded with various weapons on its underbody, she flipped the picture over. " _My new F–15J, how do I look next to her? I'm thinking of nicknaming her 'Yui' in honor of my favorite sister._ " Yui laughed, her brother was always sending pictures of his escapades, I'm your only sister you dummy' shoe thought. So she would add this latest letter and picture to the rest of them. Then she read the letter, it was short;

" _Heya sis! How have things been the last month? Things around base have been pretty hectic, some stuff with those Chinese pricks we all know and hate, can't be too specific for security reasons of course. But, for you I do have some great news, I'm finally qualified on the F–15J, my dream plane. I also got a promotion for some pretty heroic stuff, so now you can call me_ Captain _Ikari. Send me a letter when you get a response from Kyoto, if you haven't heard back yet. I'm sure they'll take you, you're the smartest person I know and Kyoto would be lucky to get you as a doctoral student. I have some leave coming up in a few weeks, so maybe you can come home for the weekend when I visit? Let me know with your next letter. Anyway, I have some awesome pilot stuff to do, so I'll be sure to write you next week. With Love, Shinji._ "

'Dummy… ' Yui thought. 'He said he'd be careful, but _heroic stuff_ doesn't sound too careful.' She sighed, her brother was always the brave and outgoing type, ready to take on any challenge, so being a pilot suited his personality quite well. 'Well, whatever he's doing, I just hope he's being super careful.' She got up and set the letter on her desk, and stuck the new picture from her brother with other 20 or so she had showing him in his flight suit, with his squadron, or in the cockpit, they all had funny notes on the back for her to read.

Then she looked back at her remaining mail on her bed. A few of the items were junk mail of course, one was the school newsletter, and another was a notification about graduation. But at the bottom of the stack was a letter from Kyoto. Her eyes opened in shock, and she grabbed the letter hastily, and opened it so violently she ripped the letter in half. After a few tense minutes of taping the poor letter back together she read it quickly:

" _Dear Ms. Yui Ikari, It is my pleasure to inform you that you have been accepted into the metaphysical biology doctoral program. This acceptance is tentative upon your current completion of your studies at Tokyo University by the end of this term. We would like to set up a preliminary meeting with you to meet with your faculty advisor, Professor Kozo Fuyutsuki, scheduled for March 18, 1996 at 10:00a. The meeting will take place in Metaphysical Biology Lab 1 of the Scientific Research Building on our main campus. We look forward to meeting you. Regards, Jushiro Kyoraku, Dean of Students._ "

"I… got in?" Yui sounded shocked as she said this. "I got in!" It had hit her, she was going to Kyoto to study, and her interview was in a few weeks. 'I should write to Shinji to let him know I got in, and call home to tell mama and papa too, they'll all be so proud!'

* * *

March 18, 1996 – Kyoto University

Yui arrived at the front gate of Kyoto University. Her brother had driven her there from home before leaving to go back to base. He wished her good luck, and told her everything would go great. He also mentioned that she should be glad to have been driven, because there were a lot problems with the train system. Yui thanked him and walked cautiously over the gate's threshold, almost as though she were waiting for lightning to strike her. She saw a campus directory in the middle of the quad, and walked over to it. She was looking for the scientific research building where the professor she would be meeting had his office. She found where she was on the map and where the building was, not a very far walk.

'Professor Fuyski was it?' She thought, as she walked towards the science building. 'Maybe Fuyuyski, or maybe Fufutski? No, I remember now, it was Fuyutsuki. That's it, Professor Fuyutsuki.' She saw the building up ahead, with a brunette girl coming out the door, as the two got closer, Yui got a better look at her. 'She looks a little young to be in college, maybe she was visiting her parent or something.' Yui wondered to herself as the girl approached her. Yui could hear the young girl happily humming to herself as they walked past each other.

She entered the building and looked around, there was no directory to which research lab she or office she should go to. And there was no one around to ask. She wandered in the hall for a moment and decided to start heading upstairs when she ran into a nervous looking young man. "Excuse me, do you know where I could find Professor Fuyutsuki's lab? I'm here for an interview." Yui asked politely.

"Metaphysical Biology Lab 1 is up on the third floor, 4th door on the left." He responded.

"Thank you very much." Yui said as she bowed in thanks and then she started to hustle up the stairs to get to the appointment before 10:00a. She found the lab on the third floor without any problems. On the sign was a small label 'Fuyutsuki' showing she found the right place. She knocked on the door gently. The voice from within answered the knock with. "Enter."

Yui opened the door and walked in. The lab was quite spacious, and had several lab desks for experiments, a storage cabinet in the corner, an area to put live specimens, and also a proper desk which was covered in what looked like research reports, and pens, but there was also a cleared space in the middle with three folders. One was open, and Yui recognized her own picture in its cover page. 'Well at least they got a nice picture of me from Tokyo University.' She thought.

"Won't you sit down Ms. Ikari?" Fuyutsuki said, looking over at the young woman standing in the doorway of his lab. She had been looking around quite intrigued at the lab. She looked somewhere between extremely nervous and fascinated, which he thought was quite an odd combination, and somewhat endearing. "Ms. Ikari?"

His calling her name broke her out of her trance. "Sorry, sir, I'm… just a little nervous." Yui stammered. She walked over to the chair Fuyutsuki indicated and sat down. At this point she had butterflies or something else jumping around in her stomach. Fuyutsuki simply surveyed her with a calm look.

"So, I read the outline of the research you wish to accomplish while you are here in Kyoto. I was quite impressed by the work you are looking to do." Fuyutsuki said.

"Thank you, sir." Yui bowed her head in thanks, and as she did she noticed her cheeks were becoming quite warm, Fuyutsuki noticed this as well.

"I can see you are quite modest in your abilities by your reaction to my comment. There is no need to blush Ms. Ikari." Fuyutsuki said kindly. 'She's quite reserved for someone so intelligent, she seems to be quite conscious of the fact she is smarter than most, and is embarrassed when people point it out.' Fuyutsuki thought to himself. "Ms. Ikari, what are you hoping to accomplish with your research?" he asked inquisitively.

"Well, Professor, please call me Yui. If we are to be working together, it would be more than acceptable to call me by my first name." Yui was still blushing as she said this, and still sounded nervous, but when she spoke again, she sounded much more confident than before. "But to answer your question, I hope to gain insight on being able to communicate with other people's souls, though some sort of contact, one soul to another, so that people can truly begin to understand each other. People are separated by some sort of barrier, and I want to find a way for that barrier to be weakened. I if can do that, maybe war would be a thing of the past, and the future would look a lot brighter. That is what I hope for most of all through my research, people to understand each other."

"Well, Yui, I think that is a very noble goal, when I read your paper, I saw that it was quite technical, with no reason behind what you wanted to do. Now that I have some understanding in what you wish to accomplish, I am more than happy to accept you into the program." Fuyutsuki smiled as he said this. "Now the term begins on April 1st, so be ready to move in for that date, you and the two others in this program will be living in single rooms on campus, and will each have your own lab space, and access to mine if needed. I may also ask for your help occasionally with some of my classes, if you are up to that of course, it may help give you practical experience with explaining your work to others. I know I am giving you quite a lot of information all at once, but according to your school records, you can handle it. So does all of that sound reasonable to you, Yui?"

"Yes, professor, that seems more than fair." Yui smiled, and the blush on her face began to fade, and she felt relieved and much less nervous than when she came and sat in Fuyutsuki's office. "But, I'm curious, who are the others in the doctoral program?" Yui asked, wondering if she had read their work, or if there was a boy she could meet that was interesting in the same things as her.

"I don't want to give that away just yet, but I can tell you that the other two in the program are girls." Fuyutsuki said with a smile.

As Fuyutsuki said this Yui was saddened a bit. 'No boys for me… ' She thought, cursing her luck silently. "Well, I look forward to meeting them, seeing as we'll all be working together, it should be fun. And once again Yui smiled happily at the thought she was closer to her dreams than the day before. 'I'll have to call Shinji and tell him all about this when I get back.' Yui thought. 'And I'll have plenty to write about in my diary tonight.'

To Be Continued

* * *

A/N: I do not own Evangelion or any of the characters, GAINAX and the other distributors of NGE related material do. I am simply using them as a backdrop for my fanfic.

And that was sweet Yui's chapter. And she met with her sensei, Fuyutsuki (Yay!) in last part of the chapter. So for the other two women going to Fuyutsuki's doctorate program, they will also finally meet with him at the end of their origin chapters, but they won't meet with each other until a later chapter, I can promise, however, that they will meet each other before the end of this episode.

And now we have the other connection to Rei through Yui's chapter. While Rei may be named for the dead twin of Gendo, her last name was Yui's material grandmother's maiden name. In a later episode, Fuyutsuki will learn the reason behind the name Gendo will choose, so more on that later. Also, Yui was not an only child, but had an older brother, who is 8 or so years older than Yui. He will feature again in a different episode, and yes, he is Shinji–kun's namesake.

I made her episode title out of her third option when Fuyutsuki asked her in the anime what she wanted to do with her life, and her answer was a. "be a mother."

As I said before, and will always say at the end of chapter, please leave comments, as I would like to try to improve the story going forward any way I can. And, hell, constructive criticism is a good thing.

* * *

つづく


	5. The Three Pieces of Me

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Legacy  
Episode I: The Phantom Menace

* * *

Chapter 5 – The Three Pieces of Me  
1985 – Sapporo, Japan

The rain outside her apartment continued to fall, as it had all day, as the monsoon was going over the city, between the wind and rain, it made her mood more depressed than it already was. It was a good thing the sounds of the weather were so loud, that way, no one would hear her sorrow.

Naoko Akagi was lying in bed alone, crying. She had been trying to contact someone all day, someone she thought had liked her. But it turns out he barely remembered their encounter from last month. He hadn't called her since that night, and Naoko, as smart as she was, was completely naïve when it came to the motivations of men. When she mentioned the reason for her phone call, she was laughed at by the man and simply told to go. "Take care of it." The sad news for Naoko was that she was pregnant, and what made it worse is that the man who did it, didn't love her at all, and could care less about the child they had created together.

In about 8 months she would have a child to raise on her own, a child she hoped would love her. But, still, she was alone, her mother lived in Hyogo. "Maybe I should move back home, with mom, it might be easier than being alone. I don't think I can do this alone." Naoko said aloud, and then she went back to crying. "Why does this always happen to me, will I ever learn from all of the stupid things I do with men, or will I always fall into the same trap?" she cried harder than before. "I'M SO FUCKING STUPID!" She yelled at the ceiling.

Even as a successful woman, Naoko always had trouble with men. She lost her virginity to a one night stand when she was 15, and in the five years since then, she had gone to college and gotten her masters, and was working on her doctorate. But with men, it was a series of one night stands that amounted to nothing more than sex, sex, and more sex. And at the end of it all, she was always left alone. Now, this time, she was alone, but she wouldn't be for very long, seeing as she had a kid on the way.

"How will I finish my doctorate, with a baby?" Naoko said as she continued to cry. "I'll have to move back home with my mother, or just leave the brat with my mother so I can finish my work on LAZARUS, otherwise my thesis will mean nothing. I'm not qualified to be a mother, I would be a horrible mother, I don't care about other people at all."

"I guess I have some decisions to make in the morning." As Naoko said this, lightning flashed outside the window, illuminating the dark room she was in, her face was red, and the makeup she had been wearing had run from her excessive crying, and now covered her face and was all over her pillow. After turning restlessly for several minutes, she continued to cry until she fell asleep, unsure of what the future had in store for her.

* * *

1991 – Hyogo, Japan

"Ritsuko, why in the hell are you being so difficult?" Naoko yelled at her daughter as she was packing her bag for the lecture. "We're only going to a lecture, and you're too young to stay home alone. Perhaps if you behaved better, I could have a babysitter come and watch you! I wish your grandmother weren't off in Okinawa, and then she could watch you. But I'm stuck with you! It's so damn inconvenient!"

"How do you think I feel, having to go to all your stupid lectures? I don't want to go to another stupid lecture. I don't want to go to Kyoto, I'd rather be at home studying things I like to study!" Was young Ritsuko's heated response to her mother's pleas. Arguments like this had been common since she could talk coherently, and seeing as she was a genius, she spoke very much like an adult, and sometimes came off like she didn't care about anyone, cold and heartless, as her grandmother had described it, her mother especially disliked this behavior, as it reflected badly on her as a mother. Ritsuko also had a flair for sarcasm, even at the tender age of six, and didn't hold back when she was arguing with her mother.

"Why don't you go find another 'uncle' for me then, maybe he could babysit me in between all your 'research,' then I wouldn't be stuck going with you!" Ritsuko yelled back.

SLAP

"How dare you talk to me that way, I AM YOUR MOTHER!" Naoko roared, she had left a bright red mark on Ritsuko's face where her hand had impacted, and blood was coming out of the corner of Ritsuko's mouth, Naoko had hit her so hard, she cut the inside of Ritsuko's cheek against her teeth.

"Why do you hate me so much? What did I ever do to you? Parents shouldn't treat kids this way!" Ritsuko said with tears in her eyes, trying to restrain herself from crying and giving her mother the satisfaction. "I HATE YOU!" Ritsuko yelled, and ran toward her room, but she was grabbed roughly by the arm and spun around by her mother.

"I don't care what you think of me, you little brat, but you will be coming with me to the lecture, and you will sit in there quietly and act respectfully towards the people in that lecture hall, including me, or there will be hell to pay when we get back home. _Do you understand?_ "

Ritsuko, stood there in silence for a few moments, the pressure on her left arm was becoming increasingly painful, as Naoko continued to squeeze her small arm tighter and tighter. Looking into her mother's face all she saw was rage and hatred. Ritsuko could never understand why her mother was like this, she was a nice person in public, but at home she was a complete bitch, always yelling and sometimes even throwing stuff, that is when she wasn't at the lab working on her next synthetic creation.

Ritsuko finally recognized defeat, and also didn't want to be hit anymore. "Fine, I'll go, and I'll be good." Her voice sounded small and defeated, and she still had tears in her eyes. "Just, please let go of my arm."

* * *

1991 – Kyoto University

"Well that was a fun lecture wasn't it?" Naoko asked as Ritsuko was walking next to her, still looking depressed from the altercation before the lecture. "What did you think of the lecture?" Naoko continued, she felt herself getting angry again, but repressed the anger because she was in public, and didn't want to be viewed as a bad mother. "Ritsuko, I'm sorry about before, I shouldn't have hit you, I was just mad at the circumstances, not you."

Ritsuko continued to stare into space, not responding to her mother, 'She always does this, does she think I'm stupid? She's just trying to make herself feel better.' Ritsuko thought to herself. 'Maybe I should just accept the apology and try to be nicer to her, I only have to put on the happy face when I'm around her, that might work, and she may be less mad if I try to tolerate her.' Ritsuko smiled slightly and turned to her mother. "I accept your apology." Ritsuko said as bluntly as possible, and tried to look relaxed when she said it.

"Thank you sweetheart, I'm glad you're not mad at me anymore." Naoko said, but what she thought was. 'You're lucky you finally said something brat, I thought I'd have to hit you again when we got home, at least before my mother got home' Naoko sighed and kept walking, taking Ritsuko's hand in hers as she did. 'Why do I get so mad at her, she's too young to have done anything to hurt me, even if she is as smart as me, she still doesn't understand the implications of some of the things she says. Maybe that's why I'm mad, she reminds me of a younger me. Who knows, I'm a scientist, not a psychologist.'

The mother and daughter duo walked silently all the way to train, immersed in their own thoughts and trying not to cause another fight, and the pair stayed silent all the way home.

* * *

August 1998 – Artificial Evolution Laboratory

Naoko walked into her lab, and sat at her computer. She had just come back from a short break, having been unable to sleep; she was running on caffeine and willpower after being up for over 63 hours.

For those 63 hours, Naoko was finalizing her proposal for building the MAGI system. She had been using the EVE system for simulating the interactions of the three MAGI components. She had been working separately from the EVE system to finalize the schematic drawings for how the MAGI system would be built, and also finalize the formulas and technical drawings for copying a person's personality. It had taken 8 long years of work, and had been saddled with lots of problems, mostly monetary problems but some involving the technology behind it. But, finally Naoko had funding through a donor organization to the Artificial Evolution Laboratory, the Human Instrumentality Project, who had taken an avid interest in her work. Now, after several more hours of work, she would be that much closer to finishing her biggest project to date.

After working for another nine hours, Naoko was at her limit. Thankfully though, she had finished working on both parts she still needed to work on, and EVE would continue to chew on the simulations for a few more days, but all that meant was a break to get some well needed rest.

The rest would have to wait though, as there was a loud crash from the lab next door to hers 'That's odd.' Naoko thought. 'That lab is empty, there shouldn't be any noise coming from it. I should probably go see if there is a problem in there or not.' Naoko reluctantly got up and walked to her lab's door. She went down to the lab where the noise came from and saw the light was on.

She opened the door and looked inside, and saw a young woman with shoulder length brown hair cleaning something up off the floor. Looking around the young woman, Naoko saw that there were several boxes filled with documents, and a few crates with research equipment inside of them. "Excuse me, what are doing in here?" Naoko called out to the girl, which startled her and made her knock something else off the desk next to her.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She said. "I didn't realize I made that much noise when I knocked this stuff over. Are you from the lab next door?" She asked nervously.

"Yes, I am Dr. Naoko Akagi." Naoko had a rather accusing look on her face. "And I don't mean to be rude, but why are you making all this noise, some people are trying to work you know."

"Sometimes I get nervous in a new place." The young woman blushed. "And being my first day, I got a little distracted, and knocked over half the things I put on my desk. I really should be more careful. I'm very sorry for disturbing you, Dr. Akagi."

'What an odd girl, and she's a scientist and that clumsy? It's a wonder she hasn't been killed by any of her experiments yet.' Naoko thought. "So what are you here to study?"

"Well I'm here to find a way for souls to communicate with one another. If the barriers between people can be weakened, then it may be possible for people to truly understand each other. I hope that doesn't sound too convoluted." The young woman said.

"That is a very noble research goal." Naoko stopped and realized something. "But you know, I still don't know what your name is, Miss… ?"

"Oh, that's right, I didn't introduce myself, and like I said, sometimes I get nervous and distracted." She tilted her head and had a smile on her face. "My name is Yui Ikari, and it's wonderful to meet you." Yui said brightly.

To Be Continued

* * *

A/N: I do not own Evangelion or any of the characters, GAINAX and the other distributors of NGE related material do. I am simply using them as a backdrop for my fanfic.

This chapter was intended to be short, as a lot that was introduced in Chapter 2 didn't need to be repeated. However, a bit more on Ritsuko's mother and father never hurt anyone. So basically, Ritsuko is the product of a one–night stand, which explains her daddy issues, and her eventual "relationship" with Gendo (and her trying to understand her mother through a man who was bonking her mother, which, yes, is gross). Naoko on the other hand, this explains her coldness, and devotion to Gendo, and the extreme reaction she suffers when being called an. "Old Hag" by Rei I (rejected yet again! By another man who claims to love her). I took the chapter title from how the MAGI operate, with three pieces of her personality bolted on in synthetic brains.

Also I would like to note that I _do not condone_ violence against children, I just wanted to show how violent Naoko's slap was on little Ritsuko, and well, Ritsuko's lucky her mother didn't choke the shit out of her (cause we all know what happens there, don't we?) Well Naoko, for as calm as she comes across, has a violent temper when she feels slighted which child abuse (such as I described above) could also be a partial explanation of Ritsuko's coldness towards others. Now some of these backstories may seem convoluted, but in my head, these explanations might shed some additional light on our cast of emotionally crippled (but still lovable and relatable) characters.

As I said before, and will always say at the end of chapter, please leave comments, as I would like to try to improve the story going forward any way I can. And, hell, constructive criticism is a good thing.

* * *

つづく


	6. Beauty and Brains

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Legacy  
Episode I: The Phantom Menace

* * *

Chapter 6 – Beauty and Brains  
1990 – Ishikari, Japan

It was the end of another school day at Ishikari Minami High School. A young blonde girl was walking to her locker to grab her stuff and head home after a very long day. When she opened her locker, a huge stack of letters fell to the floor. "How many love letters can these perverts write in a day?" She scoffed. 16–year–old Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu was the most beautiful girl in school. She looked very exotic with her long blonde hair, and sparkling sapphire blue eyes. The love letters were always stuffed into her locker. "How the hell do they get these in here? Don't they have anything else to do, like homework, or a life?"

As she did every day, Kyoko took the stack of letters and threw them in the trash. As she sulked out of the school she began to think to herself. 'Why do they only think of my as something to ogle. I have a mind too, I'm not just here to be looked at. I'd like someone who respects me for my intelligence. But that's unlikely considering most men are perverts, or afraid of a successful woman.' She sighed, and left the school.

She was walking towards the train station as she usually took the train home, but because today was a nice day, she decided to just walk home. That would also avoid her having to be on the train where guys would 'bump' into her and end up getting a free feel of her breasts or ass. 'Men can be so disgusting sometimes. It's like they let their penis lead their actions… ficken idiots.' Kyoko thought dejectedly.

It had been like this since Kyoko was a little girl. The way she looked simply drew attention to her. It wasn't her fault; it was simply the way things were. She got stared at, or ogled, or sometimes even catcalled (that started when she older) as she walked around in a store, on the street, or while using the bus or train. This was something she learned to try to ignore. But she also found out at a very young age that she was just as intelligent as she was beautiful. This led to her becoming aware that no matter how smart she was, she would always be objectified. So, she started to work harder in school to be in the top of her class. She had skipped several grades at this point and was the youngest person in her class. After this year she would be done with high school and onto college to become a scientist. She wasn't sure what field she wanted to go into, but she'd have plenty of time to decide that.

By the time she got home, it was later than she would usually get back. She had taken the side streets and alleys in the city to avoid any people wandering around. She had planned many routes to get home without being seen. When she got inside she did not issue a greeting. That would be pointless, considering her parents were never really home. Her father worked as a defense contractor for the newly reunified Germany. Her mother on the other hand worked as a U.N. official dealing with human rights. So most weeks, she was alone at home. This didn't particularly bother Kyoko, because she liked being alone. She thought it was nice to be able to be somewhere and not get stared at and be left alone, so she enjoyed it when she could. She plopped down on the couch. 'Nice and quiet.' Kyoko thought, and after staring at the wall for a few minutes, she fell asleep.

When she woke up, it was dark in the room, and she looked out the window to see a streetlight on. 'I didn't realize I was so tired.' Kyoko said as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. 'I guess I was pretty exhausted from the past few weeks, I shouldn't stay up that late anymore.' she thought as her stomach grumbled loudly 'Shit, now I'm hungry.' She scoffed 'Well I want to change first, I hate this stupid school uniform. Some pervert with a fetish definitely designed this, the arschloch.' She stood up and walked to her room and found some loose pants and a sweater to wear.

She then went back downstairs towards the kitchen to make something to eat, and satisfy her beast of an appetite. She opened the fridge and saw no prepackaged meals or bentos, she turned to a cabinet and noticed her supply of instant noodles was getting dangerously low. 'Shit, I'll have to go to the store tomorrow to get more, it's not like I can cook.' Kyoko sighed, and realized that she'd be relentlessly stared at if she went to the store during the day. 'I might as well go now, it's after dark, and there'll be less people at the store to deal with, and it'll be less busy too for that matter.'

Reluctantly, Kyoko headed towards the door and put her shoes on. The air was cool and brisk. 'I'm glad I have a sweater on, otherwise I'd be freezing.' She went in the direction of the supermarket to stock up on her essentials, bottled water, premade bentos, TV dinners, and instant noodles. When she arrived she went towards the aisles she knew held the food she was after. 'With all this crap, I'm surprised I'm so skinny, it's not exactly _health food_ , is it?' Kyoko chuckled to herself softly. With all her purchases in hand, she went up front to the checkout.

While waiting in line, there was a man standing behind her. He was in Kyoko's class and he recognized her. Kyoko tried to ignore his presence, but that didn't last long.

"Hey beautiful, how you doin'? Did you get the letter I left in your locker?" Kyoko continued to ignore him, but he kept edging closer to her. "Come on babe, you must have read it. Did you not like what I said about that great body of yours? Girls love when you talk about their bodies."

Kyoko started to feel uncomfortable. By now he had edged close enough that she could feel his hot breath on her neck as he spoke. "Can you just leave me alone? I only came here to do some shopping, not talk to a Neanderthal." Kyoko quipped.

"Hey, who are you calling a Neanderthal, you bitch. I'm just trying to be nice here, telling you how hot you are and you're being some kinda bitchy prude about it!" The boy shouted.

"I threw your stupid letter out with all the others, you pig!" Kyoko hissed, hoping the line would move faster so she could get home. She hated guys like this. Actually it was because of this she hated guys in general. She just couldn't trust them to be polite or curious to her just because she was attractive. Sometimes Kyoko wished she was ugly so people would ignore her. "Can you just go away!? Go to another line and just leave me the fuck alone!"

"No, I think I like the view right where I am. Besides you don't get to act like this towards a star athlete like me. I'm the pride of the school, and I could _have_ any girl I want. And I _want_ you." He kept leering at her, and the look he had on his face scared Kyoko a bit.

"I don't think you heard her very well kid, she said to leave her alone." Said someone from behind the jerk Kyoko was arguing with.

The jerk turned around to face the accuser. "Who the hell do you think you are talkin' to me like that? I can do what I want."

"Listen kiddo, why don't you go home to your mommy before there's a problem here you can't handle." The man said, putting down his shopping basket as he spoke. "The lady said to leave her alone and you should never refuse a request from a lady." The man said calmly.

"Listen asshole, were having a private conversation, so back the fuck off." The jerk said pushing the man away.

"Big mistake kid, pushing me like that." The man said as he raised his fist and gave the kid the most perfect surprise right hook anyone had ever seen. The kid was lifted off his feet by the impact and fell to the ground with loud thud, completely unconscious. "Damn fool, he is probably the most stubborn bastard I've ever seen." The man turned to Kyoko. "Are you ok, young lady?" He asked politely.

"Uh… yeah… I'm fine." Kyoko stammered. "Th… thank you for… your help." She bowed her head in thanks. "Not many people would have the… courage to step in and help others like that."

"It's not a problem, I hate when guys treat girls like that, gives the rest of us a bad rap." The man turned to walk away. "Have good night kid." He waived his hand as walked toward the back of the store. "Be seein' ya."

Kyoko stood there shocked for a moment. The people who had been watching the exchange with her and the jerk no one looked shocked that the boy was laid out on the floor, and the man who did it had simply walked away. Kyoko didn't hear the girl at the counter call her over, but when she came to her senses, she paid for her food and left for home. Her walk home was silent and empty, there was no one else out but her.

"Well, I guess there are men out there that are respectable" Kyoko said to herself just before getting back home. "I've never been wrong about something before. Who knew it felt this good to be wrong about something."

* * *

1994 – Osaka, Japan

In the years since finishing high school, Kyoko had changed quite a bit. After the incident in the supermarket with a random guy knocking out one of her pervy classmates, things started to look up. For one, she didn't see all guys as pervs. She actually started dating a quiet guy from her class, at least for a few months. They lost their virginity together, and after they graduated, the relationship ended, and it was mutual as they were going to separate schools, and Kyoko was happy. He had been very good to her, and he had liked her for body, but more importantly, also liked Kyoko for her mind.

Moving on to college, she met a lot of mature, normal guys who actually valued her opinions. She still encountered Neanderthals, but they were kept more towards those who were cheerleading, not doing science like her. Kyoko also found out what she wanted to do, become a bio engineer with her exciting thesis and prove it could work. The theory came to her in her first year of college. She was sitting alone in her room, and something crossed her mind. 'What if a system could be devised to create a living being as a shell, something like a clone, and it could be used for transplants of not only organs, but body parts as well. That would be revolutionary!' She began writing out what her thesis would entail, and after she got her masters she would find a doctoral program that would let her study this.

Kyoko's thoughts would focus mostly on this theory until she finished her undergraduate work. She had few boyfriends in college, but no one very special, not 'the one' like many girls would put it. But Kyoko had other things on her mind, like finishing what would become the project of her life. Today, Kyoko was meeting up with some friends from her dorm. They always ended up having long conversations about nothing, but today was going to be different.

When Kyoko met her friends on the quad to decide where they were going, Kyoko enacted her plan. "Ladies, I think it's time to go out for some drinks, whaddya say?" Kyoko said with a wide smile on her face. 'Let's get wasted.' Kyoko thought.

* * *

1996 – Osaka, Japan

Kyoko's apartment was dark, and seeing as it was late that wasn't unusual, most people slept when it was dark outside. Kyoko on the other hand was not an ordinary person. The people in the apartment were not asleep, as sounds of passion were coming from the bedroom. Kyoko had meant to go to bed at a reasonable hour, however realizing this would be the last time she would see the man she'd been having a wonderful tryst with for the past two years, she decided to end the relationship the best way possible, with lots of passionate sex. The reason for this impromptu rendezvous, and ending of the relationship, was the letter still sitting on the kitchen table that Kyoko had been reading constantly for over a week, because she was proud of what it said.

" _Dear Ms. Kyoko Soryu, It is my pleasure to inform you that you have been accepted into the metaphysical biology doctoral program. This acceptance is tentative upon your current completion of your studies at Osaka University by the end of this term. We would like to set up a preliminary meeting with you to meet with your faculty advisor, Professor Kozo Fuyutsuki, scheduled for March 18, 1996 at 11:00a. The meeting will take place in Metaphysical Biology Lab 1 of the Scientific Research Building on our main campus. We look forward to meeting you. Regards, Jushiro Kyoraku, Dean of Students._ "

A loud moan from both parties emanated from the bedroom, signaling the end of the passion between the two lovers.

"Oh my God, that was fantastic!" Kyoko moaned, panting slightly.

"I concur. That was certainly what I would call some of the best sex we've had, at least in my opinion." The man said as he slid off the beautiful blonde, both were covered in sweat, and still breathing quite heavily.

"I think I'm going to miss this." Kyoko sighed. She was beginning to regret the decision to break it off, mostly because of the sex, but also because, even though her lover had an abrasive attitude towards most, he did have a kind heart.

"I will as well. I'm not sure what I'll do after you're gone." The man sighed and slid to the edge of the bed, hiding his face from view of Kyoko. "You're the only person I can have an intelligent conversation with."

"Well, you're probably going to end up listening to that damn music player again or getting into more bar fights." Kyoko smirked, wondering if he was hiding his sorrow from her. "Well the fights aren't all that unexpected are they, because you do have a tendency to piss people off just by walking into the room."

"It is a gift after all. So how do I walk into a room with you and you not want to hit me?" He asked sullenly.

. "I must be one of the only people alive who can tolerate you or your bullshit." Kyoko stopped smirking as she watched the man get up and walk over to the window.

"You would be correct in that respect, Kyoko." The man said, as he stared pensively out the window at the cityscape before him. "So when do you leave for Kyoto?"

"Tomorrow morning for the interview, which I'm sure I'll be fine with, and then I'll be out of here March 31st to move up to Kyoto for April 1st." Kyoko looked over at him, grabbed the bed sheet and wrapped it around herself, walked over to him, and put her arms around his neck. When she spoke her words were uttered softly into his ear. "You know, I will miss these encounters, but more so, I'll miss seeing, and being with you, Gendo Rokubungi." Kyoko said as she kissed his cheek gently and walked towards the bathroom.

"As will I, but as you said earlier, we both have to move on." Gendo smiled and followed Kyoko. "Since you picked me up in that bar two years ago, I have finally come to understand what happiness is. Back then I was angry at everything and everyone, but now, my faith in the human race has been restored, perhaps I can finally learn to be kind again to others, at least in time anyway."

The shower turned on, and Kyoko called out. "You're always so melodramatic, Gendo, you need to take it easy. Even after all this time I find it hard to believe that you haven't had a single friend until me." She sighed, she didn't want to believe it, but it had to be true, otherwise he wouldn't be so hurt at her leaving for someplace else. 'I have to try and tell him that we weren't meant for each other, maybe he'll understand. I hope he understands.'

Several minutes passed as the Gendo got dressed and ready to leave in silence, and Kyoko finished her shower. She came out of the shower wrapped in a towel, with a second on her hair Gendo was sitting on the bed waiting for her to finish up. Kyoko spoke softly again, in a gentle voice. "Gendo, I know you've had a tough life, but we were never really in love, were we? You deserve someone who loves you, not just likes you and enjoys having sex with you." Kyoko stood there looking at the man she had come to know, his steely face was generally unreadable, but tonight there was a slight frown on his face. "I want you to be happy, and for that to truly happen, you can't be with me. I hate to say it, because I know it will hurt, but I have to be honest, right?" Kyoko sighed as she said this.

"Kyoko, I understand. But a lack of love really isn't a big problem, at least I know someone cares about me. From your words, I know that you care about me, and as long as we can keep our friendship, then I think I will survive. I've been standing on my own two feet for so long, for the time we had, I'm glad I was able to stand with someone for a little while. I will miss you dearly, Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu. And I hope you find happiness in your new life. But, now, sadly this is goodbye." As Gendo said this, he got up and walked silently towards the door.

"Goodbye." Kyoko said as he reached the door, she continued. "And good luck Gendo, try and stay out of trouble. I know you will find happiness at some point in your life, and when you do, don't let it go, whatever you do." Kyoko said, surveying him for the last time. Gendo opened the door and left without another word.

Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu now stood alone in a towel in her apartment.

As she was getting dressed her mind wandered from thoughts of Kyoto, 'It will be very nice to start a new life in a different city.' However then her thoughts shifted to Gendo. 'I will miss him a lot though.' She thought 'But, it's not like I loved him, right? It was just sex, wasn't it?' She asked herself, unsure of what the real answer was. 'He was emotionally unavailable at times, but still, he was attractive, in a mysterious way, it wasn't just about sex, he liked me more for my intelligence, and it's not like he was ever mean to me, he was just sometimes uninterested in things.' Her thoughts continued to focus on Gendo, even if she didn't want them to. 'Still I'm surprised he wished me happiness, and said goodbye. I guess he has really changed since we met. I didn't think anything about Kyoto University would register for him, I thought he didn't care. But he still asked about it anyway. He always been a bit of a mystery, but I guess I won't be solving that mystery any time soon.' Kyoko finished changing the sheets and laying out clothes for the morning. She didn't want to be late for her appointment with Professor Fuyutsuki.

'Well tomorrow begins a new life for me, and after I get back, I'll have to start packing up this place to be ready to move up to Kyoto. Change is never easy, but it certainly makes life interesting.' And with that last thought, Kyoko, got back into bed and was ready to move to a new life starting tomorrow.

* * *

March 18, 1996 – Kyoto University

"Shit, its 10:50, I think I'm gonna be late!" Kyoko was not having a good morning, her train was delayed, the train then broke down, but thankfully it had arrived at her station first. With the lack of proper train service, finding a taxi was damn near impossible, so she decided to walk. 'I am so tired from all this walking, I hope I get to the campus soon.' She thought to herself just as the main gates appeared in her field of view. 'About time, my legs are gonna fall off.'

She crossed the quad to the information board situated in plain sight. She found her location and the building she had to walk to. "Great, more walking." She growled. She stomped off toward the Scientific Research Building for her meeting. 'It's 10:54, I don't think I'll be there on time.' She broke into a run and saw the building, and it wasn't too far away. When she reached the steps she ran up those too, but as she went to grab the door, it swung open on its own.

THWACK

Kyoko had collided with a young woman with shoulder length brunette hair. The girl was on top of Kyoko, with her boobs in the precarious position of being on her face. "Clud ou gt ooof f me?" Kyoko's voice was muffled by the girl's chest.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't see you when I opened the door." The girl got up and was still straddling Kyoko. "I apologize for bumping into you Miss." She bowed her head in apology. "I guess I just wasn't paying enough attention."

"It's not your fault, I was the one who was running." Kyoko said. When Kyoko realized the girl was still straddling her, she blushed. "Although, would you mind getting off of me?"

"Oh, I'm sorry" the girl bolted up from where she was and offered a hand to Kyoko. "Here, let me help you up.' The girl smiled at her as Kyoko took her hand.

"Thanks for that. By the way I'm Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu, what's your name?" Kyoko asked.

"Oh, my name is Yui Ikari, nice to meet you." Yui bowed her head again.

Well, I don't mean to be abrupt, but I have an appointment to get to, and I don't want to be late." Kyoko said, picking up her bag. "But I'm sure we'll see each other again." Kyoko hurried off and waved goodbye to the girl she just met. 'Nice girl.' Kyoko thought. 'Maybe I'll see more of her come next year.'

She found where she had to go from the partially obstructed building directory. "Great, more stairs, it just couldn't be on the ground floor could it?" Kyoko grumbled as she trudged up the stairs. She found the lab labeled for _Fuyutsuki_ and knocked. Her knock was greeted with a simple. "Enter" from its occupant.

"Good morning Professor Fuyutsuki." Kyoko said, bowing. "My name is Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu, it's a pleasure to meet you. I have an appointment with you at 11:00 today." She rattled off quickly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Ms. Soryu, please sit down." Kyoko sat down. "So, Ms. Soryu, tell me about your thesis. It is quite an interesting theory you have, how did you come up with it?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"Well, Professor Fuyutsuki, I came up with the idea when we were going over cell replication in class. But it didn't sink in until I was back in my room that if there were a system to develop a clone body of a person by taking a cell sample an forcing it to replicate. Transplant organs and body parts could be taken from it without the need for a donor. It should be possible, as my thesis points out, but there are the moral implications." Kyoko said and her face fell as she continued to speak. "Do the 'shells' have a soul, and if they don't, could they be considered property? It's a very large conundrum."

"Well, all great scientific discoveries have stigma attached to them, look at Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb." Fuyutsuki said calmly. "His creation spawned a two horrific events for our country, and he even thought of the Hindu quote, ' _Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds._ ' What he created however was not only a weapon of war, but also could be used as a power source to move industry and large sailing vessels alike. Now with your eventual discovery, there will be a stigma, but people will also see all the good it can do for the world, and that can outweigh the bad any day." Fuyutsuki concluded.

"Wow, I would never have thought of it that way." Kyoko said with a blush on her face. "But why did you choose me for this program Professor? I'm curious." She asked in a quiet voice.

"I chose you because, instead of hiding the moral implications of your thesis, you list out some of the issues, and make a case that the pros of your project outweigh the cons of the morality in the project." Fuyutsuki stated simply.

Kyoko was shocked, not only had the professor liked her thesis, he appreciated her intelligence and honesty! It was certainly a large change from when she was younger. Because of this shock, she was speechless.

"I take it you appreciated my answer, Ms. Soryu?" Fuyutsuki asked. He smiled and then continued. "Perhaps you could answer a question of mine, why apply here?"

Kyoko took a moment to ponder why she did apply there and then answered. "I wanted a fresh start away from what I knew so I could get a fresh perspective on things. That's the only reason I can think of." She replied.

"That answer more than suffices for me." He said, thinking to himself that her response was similar to his own as to why he moved here from Tokyo. After a moment Fuyutsuki continued. "Well, Ms. Soryu, you and two other young women have been chosen for this program. Now you only have a few weeks before the new term starts on April 1st. You'll need to be ready to move in by then. You'll have a room to yourself, if that helps, and you'll also have a lab assigned to you on this floor of the building. I don't see any problems with you finishing your degree by the start of term. So, is all of this agreeable, Ms. Soryu?"

"Yes Professor, all of that is more than agreeable. I have already started to pack in preparation of moving to campus." She stood up and bowed deeply. "Thank you for this opportunity professor, I deeply appreciate it."

"All capable minds should be fostered, Ms. Soryu, so please, there is no need to thank me." Fuyutsuki responded, caught off guard by her admission of appreciation.

"Well then, I'll see you in a few weeks Professor Fuyutsuki." Kyoko said as she left the office to head home and begin to ready herself for a new life.

To Be Continued

* * *

A/N: I do not own Evangelion or any of the characters, GAINAX and the other distributors of NGE related material do. I am simply using them as a backdrop for my fanfic.

Hahahahahaha, Gendo and Kyoko banged. I call that one hell of a curveball. I hope no one was too shocked at that little plot twist. I did tell you it would be in a later episode, I fibbed a bit because, well, it's nice to catch people off guard.

Anyway, I know this was a long chapter, but so little was known about Kyoko (other than her sad demise) there were a lot blanks to fill in. So she doesn't like to be objectified or the center of attention (shame her daughter didn't inherit some of those traits), and she meets both clumsy Yui and sensei Fuyutsuki in this chapter. We also learn about her portion of the research that will go into Project E at some point in the near future. Also, the quiet guy in her class that she dated is Kensuke's father, just because, reasons.

As I said before, and will always say at the end of chapter, please leave comments, as I would like to try to improve the story going forward any way I can. And, hell, constructive criticism is a good thing.

* * *

つづく


	7. Progenial Child

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Legacy  
Episode I: The Phantom Menace

* * *

Chapter 7 – Progenial Child  
1990 – Sapporo, Japan

A young brown haired girl with brilliant aqua colored eyes was out to dinner with her parents. It happened to be her eighth birthday and they were at her favorite eatery in the city, a popular curry restaurant. She loved her mother's cooking, but her curry always paled in comparison to this place's curry. Since she was three, they came to the restaurant every year per her request. The reason she remembered such a place from such a young age was because she had a photographic memory.

Meet Mari Illustrious Makinami, child progeny. The reason they came to this restaurant the first time was after receiving the results of her first I.Q. test where she scored a 160, having picked up things here and there by looking at the books in her parents' extensive library, she was able to remember everything she saw, and had a very deductive mind from what the examiners said. This restaurant happened to be the closest place to eat and after going once, every year when her parents asked where she wanted to go for her birthday, she told them here.

"Mari, are you enjoying yourself?" Her mother asked.

Mari, having her mouth full of food nodded in agreement instead of attempting to talk with her mouth full of food.

"Oh Mari, you should eat more like a young lady and not rush through your food." Her mother said.

"Oh honey relax, she's a young girl, and genius or not, she deserves to be able to act like a child once in a while." Her father said, defending Mari's actions. "Besides, she likes the food, so let her eat how she likes."

"Alright dear, I'll leave it alone." Mari's mother said with a frown on her face. Mari understood what that meant, her parents were going to be arguing after she went to bed assuming she couldn't hear the yelling. Mari assumed they would be getting a divorce sometime soon, and had prepared for it mentally, but was still hoping her parents would stay together, for her sake.

Mari however kept on a cheerful face and continued to enjoy her curry. When it came time to leave, Mari was sad because she not able to take home any curry due it the fact she ate all of it, and also because she was so full she couldn't eat anymore curry. She walked to the car with her parents and sat behind her mother on the passenger side of the car. Her father turned the car on and pulled out of the restaurant getting ready for the lengthy drive home. Mari fell asleep after a few minutes because she was full, but woke up later to her parents arguing about something.

"Listen, I was trying to be polite at dinner, but she should be able to eat to eat like a lady, she's smart enough to learn to do that." Her mother said.

"Just because she's a genius doesn't mean all the fun should be sucked from her life." Her father replied gruffly.

They continued to argue like this for several minutes, until Mari noticed a truck coming at them from the driver's side. She yelled, but her parents were so deep into their argument they didn't notice until it was too late. All Mari could remember after that was the sound of crunching metal, the car flipping over several times, her parents' screams, and something warm running down her forehead before she passed out.

When Mari woke up again she was in the hospital. She tried moving but her left arm and legs were in casts, when she tried to lift her head she realized her chest also had a cast and her neck was in a brace. With her free right arm (which was bandaged by the way) she felt her face. There was a bandage above her left eye, but no other discernible cuts. She noticed a button lying on her bed near where her right hand had been. She reached for it and with a little effort, pressed the button.

A few moments later three nurses and a doctor came rushing into her room. "What happened?" Mari asked before they could say anything.

The doctor responded. "Well, young lady, you were in a very serious car accident. The injuries you sustained could have been worse, but frankly, you're lucky to be alive."

"So that means my parents weren't that lucky then." Mari responded, with a flood of memory coming back to her detailing the moments before and during the crash before she passed out. Tears started to form in her eyes, blurring her vision. "They _are_ dead aren't they? I remember the crash!" Mari yelled, trying to hold back her tears. "My father got crushed by the truck and my mother's head went through the window in the door as we were rolling! Just tell me!" Mari felt several tears escape from her eyes, and she started shuttering. "I know what happened, so just tell me!"

Mari didn't realize, but the three nurses in the room were also crying silently. When the doctor spoke again, he tried to keep his voice calm, even though he was holding back tears of his own. "You are correct miss, your parents perished in the crash." He paused for a moment. "I don't know how or why you remember what happened in that car, but as I said, you're lucky to be alive."

"NOOOOOO!" Mari yelled before she gave into her sadness and began to cry loudly. "Maybe if they hadn't been… arguing about how I… ate my dinner… they wouldn't be… de… de… DEAD!" Mari shouted between sobs. She blamed herself, clearly, because their argument had been about her behavior in public.

One of the nurses stepped forward and put her hand in Mari's uninjured shoulder. "It's not your fault dear, the truck driver was drunk and ran a red light, it's not your fault or your parents fault, it's that man's fault." The nurse said consolingly.

Mari didn't want to hear it. "Can I… just be left… alone?" She said, trying to control her crying, but she was still unable to.

"We will in a minute miss." The doctor said. "But first we need your name, unfortunately due to the crash, the identification your parents were carrying were unreadable, and we don't have your name or address either, and it's been two days since you were brought in, we just need some information."

"My name is Mari… Illustrious… Makinami… I have some family… in Okinawa… I can give you their… phone number…" Mari still couldn't stop crying, although it wasn't as loud as before.

"That will work for now, Mari, at least we can register you under your name instead of listing you as _Hanako Yamada_ and look up your family information through the national insurance system." He smiled at her. "But for now we'll leave you alone for a while. Please do try and get some rest." He motioned to the nurses and they left the room.

Mari wanted to roll over on her pillow to cry but she couldn't. 'I don't like being alone, I want them back.' Was what kept going through her mind. She would end up crying herself to sleep, wishing all the while for her parents to come back to her.

* * *

1992 – Okinawa to Sapporo, Japan

Mari was walking in a graveyard, carrying a bouquet of flowers.

"Hello mom, hello dad. How have you been?" She said quietly. "It's been a while…"

It had been two years to the day since the accident, and Mari was now 10. Things hadn't been very easy the past few years. Once her aunt arrived from Okinawa, she had some company but still wished that her parents would come back. She was in the hospital for three months recovering, and with all that time all she did was read and learn so she wouldn't fall behind in her studies. It was her way to cope. Her aunt understood it and brought Mari what she asked for.

When Mari got out of the hospital, she went home to her house, but it was clear after a few days that Mari couldn't live there anymore as it brought up too may bad memories, or rather painfully joyful memories that reminded her of the loss she suffered. She had recurring nightmares where she relived the crash and woke up crying. So after another week of packing up the house, she moved to Okinawa with her aunt.

Things weren't much better down there. The nightmares were still a constant occurrence. And being new at school didn't help much. People teased her for how smart she was and told her to go back where she came from. All of this led Mari to try and find something to escape with, and she did it with music. She remembered every song she'd ever heard, and would hum the ones she liked when she ignored people, or generally when she got bored just to shut herself off from the harmful world around her.

By her 9th birthday, Mari was still not ready to deal with her parent's deaths, and refused to head back to Sapporo. However, this year was different, Mari was ready to go back, and she wanted to do it alone. She needed to do it alone.

"Why do you want to go alone Mari? I wouldn't mind going with you." Her aunt said.

"I want closure Auntie, and I need to do it alone. I hope you can understand." Mari replied.

"Ok, Mari, you can go alone. I'll get you the tickets so you can go." Her aunt said, the sound of defeat in her voice.

There was one flight per day to Sapporo from Okinawa, and after three hours on the plane, Mari arrived back in Sapporo for the first time in two years. Even as young as she was, she wanted to go back. Her first stop was to her old house. There was a new family living there now, and Mari just wanted to see it one last time, she then went past her old school. She thought back and realized that was one place she wouldn't miss from her old life. She visited a few other places on the way to one of her last stops, the graveyard.

"How have you two been?" Mari asked, placing the flowers on the grave markers. "I've missed you. It's been hard without you guys there. Auntie means well, and tries her best, but she's not you guys." Mari sat down in front of the gravestone. "I still miss you both, and I want you to come back so much" tears began to swell in her eyes. "I know it's not my fault now that you died, but… why did you have to die!" Mari started shacking, remembering the crash, the hospital, all the memories flooding back. "Why did you guys have to argue so much? Couldn't you just get along? You loved each other right? Why did it have to happen, what did I do to deserve this?" Mari started to cry, holding her face in her hands. "Why did you leave me alone!? I JUST WANT YOU BACK!" Mari completely broke down, and was unable to leave. "WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME ALONE?!"

By the time Mari felt she could move, she got up and started to leave. "I won't come back here again, mom and dad. I just can't, this is the last time I'll ever visit. I'll miss you both" Mari left the graveyard, with tears still streaming down her face. "Goodbye… "

Mari's final stop was her favorite restaurant. "I'll eat here one last time, in memory of my parents and the good times before the accident, to honor them. Once I'm done I'll never come back to this city again. I'll leave it all behind me and move on with my life." Mari said as she walked inside the restaurant.

* * *

1995 – University of the Ryukyus

Mari was just getting out of her last class of the day. She was singing under her breath as usual.

**♪'Cause we are living in a material world**   
**And I am a material girl**   
**You know that we are living in a material world**   
**And I am a material girl♪**

'God, I'm exhausted.' She thought. Even at 13 years old, Mari had come pretty far. She had skipped all of junior and senior high school after finishing her fifth year of elementary school. She was glad to have skipped that much, mostly because she wanted to become a scientist, and she wanted that to happen as quickly as possible. In three more weeks, Mari would have her bachelor's degree, and be ready to move on to get her master's. She was taking three times the classes as everyone else in her class, and she only showed up for tests, which she aced like a kindergarten spelling test.

She walked back to her dorm room, where lived alone because of her age. She was now a ward of the state and had been placed there by the government. Her aunt had died from cancer the year before, leaving Mari alone once again. But this time, Mari ignored her loss and kept working, she wanted to bring her ideas to fruition. In what little free time she had, besides sleeping, Mari worked on her doctoral proposal.

"How do I explain why I want to do this?" Mari asked herself. "My proposal sounds insane. I want to be able to find a way to transfer he should and memories of a person into another form, like into a computer, or maybe some kind of clone body, or a robot. That way people don't have to lose their loved ones all the time. They could live forever… " Mari trailed off as she thought what it would be like if she could get her parents back, and they would never be able to leave her again.

Mari collected herself. "I have like six months before this is due, I'm not sure why I'm stressing myself out about it though." She paused. "Well, I do know why I'm stressing about it, I want it to be perfect so they'll accept my application."

"If I actually am able to perfect my theory, maybe I could bring my parents back, and I wouldn't be alone anymore. I'd have a family again, and someone to love me."

As confident and intelligent as Mari was, she was just a young girl after all. She was lonely sometimes, as she hadn't made any friends, especially considering her age compared to those around her. This left her isolated, and even though she had convinced herself that she liked being alone, she truly, only wanted a friend.

As Mari often did when she was alone, she began to cry. "I just want my parents back."

* * *

March 18, 1996 – Kyoto University

Mari had the letter in hand, not that she needed it, as she had already memorized it, which read;

" _Dear Ms. Mari Makinami, It is my pleasure to inform you that you have been accepted into the metaphysical biology doctoral program. This acceptance is tentative upon your current completion of your studies at the University of the Ryukyus by the end of this term. We would like to set up a preliminary meeting with you to meet with your faculty advisor, Professor Kozo Fuyutsuki, scheduled for March 18, 1996 at 9:00a. The meeting will take place in Metaphysical Biology Lab 1 of the Scientific Research Building on our main campus. We look forward to meeting you. Regards, Jushiro Kyoraku, Dean of Students._ "

Mari was ten minutes early for her appointment, she had found the building without a problem. Mari breathed in deeply to relax the flurry of butterflies in her stomach, and knocked on the lab door.

"Enter." A voice from within the room said. Mari opened the door slowly and walked inside. "Ah, good morning Ms. Makinami, you're early." Professor Fuyutsuki said.

"Yes, sir, Professor Fuyutsuki, I wanted to make a good first impression." Mari responded, smiling. "May I sit down, sir?"

"Yes, please Ms. Makinami, have a seat. I have been quite eager to meet you." Fuyutsuki said. "At such a young age, you've finished your bachelor's and master's degrees. Your intelligence is extremely high, and your doctoral proposal is very intriguing. The ability to transfer the soul of one person to another person or object is an intriguing theory. How did you come up with that?"

Mari sat there silently for a few moments contemplating what to say to Fuyutsuki. 'Should I tell him the truth, or should I tell him something else. I don't want him to think I'm bat–shit crazy.' Mari couldn't decide which road to take. 'I should just tell him the truth, lying would not make me a very trustworthy candidate.'

Fuyutsuki noticed her silence. "Ms. Makinami, are you alright?"

"Yes Professor, I was just preparing my answer." Mari said, she gathered all of her strength and explained her reasons for her thesis proposal. "After my parents died when I was 8, I had trouble dealing with their deaths. I was in the car when it happened and I can remember the details very clearly. It took a couple years before I could even visit their graves. After I visited them once, the idea came to me. If I were able to salvage the souls and memories of a person and transfer them to something or someone else, people wouldn't have to die needlessly, they could be reborn. They could be saved from the mistakes of others."

Fuyutsuki sat there quietly taking in what Mari had just said. "Wouldn't that be playing God, Ms. Makinami? Wouldn't that be beyond the ethical scope of science?"

"Well, professor, it depends on how the idea is implemented. At the moment it is only a theory, so there is little probative value to its implementation without a process to create a vessel for the soul to go into." Mari explained. "The only practical use is to keep people alive that shouldn't be dead, where the decisions were taken out of their hands."

"What qualifies a person is undeserving to die, Ms. Makinami?" Fuyutsuki said calmly. He had read Mari's file, and knew she had difficulties with her parents being gone. He had already surmised why Mari had come up with the idea, but he wanted to hear it from her. He needed to confirm that it came from her grief.

"I'm not sure, every person is unique. Maybe if someone is murdered or dies as a result of someone else's carelessness, they should qualify. Kids shouldn't become orphans because of some horrible and avoidable tragedy." Mari could feel the tears ready to come to the surface again, but she did her best to keep them down. "I know with my intelligence that I've come up with a way to make it possible to bring people back to life and play God. And even if it isn't possible to bring back my parents, it should be possible to bring back the parents of another kid who might become an orphan one day."

Fuyutsuki noticed that she was starting to tremble. For all of her maturity at such a young age, she was still just a lonely young girl. "Ms. Makinami… uh… Mari, you don't have to be upset, I just wanted to try and make you truly think about the implications of your thesis, and considering your argument, you are more than capable of discerning right and wrong when it comes to ethics in science." Fuyutsuki paused. "The reason I chose you for this doctoral program is because of the promise you have. Most 14 year olds have very little awareness of the harshness of life, but you, Mari, have been exposed to many things and because you are blessed with the ability to remember everything, which is an unfair burden for any person to bare, it makes you uniquely qualified to learn from your mistakes."

Mari had done her best but was unable to hold back her tears after Fuyutsuki's kind words. "Thank… you… prof… essor" she sobbed. "And… I'm… sorry… for… crying. It's… hard… to… hold… it… in… some… times." Mari cried softly.

"Mari, it's ok to cry about things that hurt us, as long as you don't let them control you." Fuyutsuki smiled at her, he realized it was a big risk to take her on as a doctoral student but her ideas would be worth it, and she would mature in time, and what was life without taking risks. He let her cry for a little while, not wanting to interrupt her grief. "I'd like you as a student, and that's why I selected you as one of the three."

"Three?" Mari asked, as she was wiping her eyes with her arm.

"Yes, you and two other girls will be receiving rooms on campus for the next term, which starts on April 1st. I think you may be able to become friends with them, they are just as intelligent as you, but a bit older of course, and their own theses are also quite interesting." Fuyutsuki said. "So, would you like to enter the doctoral program officially Mari? The decision is all up to you."

"Yes, I'd like to work on my doctoral thesis, and it would be nice to meet some other people like me." Mari said, her eyes were still red and puffy from crying, but the tears had stopped flowing from her eyes. "I accept your offer of being in your doctoral program."

"Good! I'm glad you've accepted!" Fuyutsuki was overjoyed, and glad she wasn't crying anymore. "Well, then I will see you in a few weeks, Mari… I mean Ms. Makinami. I shouldn't be calling you by your given name, its improper."

"Thank you, Professor Fuyutsuki." Mari said as she stood up to leave. "Professor, you can call me Mari, I don't mind, I am going to be your student after all." she smiled. "And aren't I a bit young to be referred to so formally? I'm not even technically an adult yet."

Fuyutsuki smiled back. "Alright then, I will refer to you as Mari from now on. But you will have to refer to me as sensei or professor." He joked.

"Thank you _sensei_." Mari said as she left. She walked downstairs to leave the building and began humming another song as she exited the building.

**♪I keep looking for something I can't get**   
**Broken hearts, they're all around me**   
**And I don't see an easier way to get out of this**   
**Her diary sits by the bedside table**   
**The curtains are closed, the cat's in the cradle**   
**Who would have thought that a boy like me could come to this?♪**

As Mari got to the bottom of the stairs she saw a beautiful young girl with shoulder length brunette hair. 'Wow she's so pretty.' Mari thought as the two girls passed each other. The pretty brunette smiled at her as she walked by. Mari saw the girl walk toward the science building she had just left. 'I wonder if she is one of the other two doctoral candidates. I guess I'll have to wait a few weeks to find out.'

To Be Continued

* * *

A/N: I do not own Evangelion or any of the characters, GAINAX and the other distributors of NGE related material do. I am simply using them as a backdrop for my fanfic.

As for the songs used in this chapter, I don't own them either, and they're listed below in order of appearance:  
Madonna – _Material Girl_ (1984)  
Cutting Crew – _(I Just) Died in Your Arms Tonight_ (1986)

Now, for Mari, I needed to create a fear of loss that will come in handy later on in series, and so, killing off her aunt and parents seemed like a good idea. Now I took some creative liberty with Mari's maturity. Given her intelligence and what she's been though, she can be extremely mature, but also have moments of being childish. I hope her extreme shifts between constantly crying and being super smart don't come off as too confusing.

Get ready for the next chapter, cause it's going to be a doozy.

As I said before, and will always say at the end of chapter, please leave comments, as I would like to try to improve the story going forward any way I can. And, hell, constructive criticism is a good thing.

* * *

つづく


	8. Where The Fates Lead Them

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Legacy  
Episode I: The Phantom Menace

* * *

Chapter 8 – Where The Fates Lead Them  
April 1, 1996 – Kyoto University

The campus of Kyoto University was bustling. Yui was in the car with her brother Shinji as they pulled up to the school. She had a load of her belongings in the back seat and trunk of his car. "Hey, sis, where are we supposed to be going? Do you know what building you're in?" Shinji asked his sister while trying to avoid running anyone down with his car.

Yui had a campus map in her hand, and she was trying to read the small print on it while her brother was navigating the crowd of people moving into the dorms. "I'm in the Sotsugyo dorm, it's on the far side of campus, near the… research building. I'm sorry Shinji we have to turn around and go the other way." Yui said as she hung her head in shame.

"Yui, will you cheer up? I took leave because I wanted to be the one to bring you to school. Plus, I know you don't have the best sense of direction, so I'll let go of the fact you got us lost." Shinji smiled at her. "So stop looking so depressed _Doctor_ Ikari."

Yui smiled back at her goofy brother. "Yes, Sir, _Captain_ Ikari, Sir!" She couldn't help but laugh the minute the words had escaped her mouth.

Shinji smiled as executed he a K–turn to head in the direction of the dorm. "Wow, sis, I didn't think you had a sarcastic bone in your body, but I stand corrected." A few minutes later, the car arrived in front of Yui's dorm, the crowd was almost nonexistent here, as this was where those who had already gotten their bachelor's degrees were housed, away from the fervor of the undergraduates moving in.

They both exited the vehicle and started to grab Yui's belongings from the backseat. "Ok, sis, what floor are you on?"

"Well, it says I'm in room 915, which looks like it's on the top floor." Yui grimaced, 'It sounds like a lot of stairs.' She thought.

"You better hope this place has an elevator or you're on your own little sis." Shinji said as he contemplated how to get up to the top of the building once without feeling exhausted.

"What? You'd leave me here all alone?" Yui looked shocked and felt like crying at her brother's threat of betrayal.

"Damn, sis, you still can't handle a joke can you." He laughed. "Plus you're face and that high–pitched 'What?' made the joke so totally worth it." He walked over and hugged his sister. "Now relax and let's start moving your stuff in, huh? I don't have all day ya know."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, you have important piloty stuff to do." Yui stopped to open the door to get in the building. "I wonder if either of the other two doctoral candidates are here yet?"

"Well, you won't find out unless you get your stuff upstairs." Shinji said, spotting an elevator. "Let's get a move on."

Meanwhile up in room 916, Kyoko was settling herself in, having shipped her belongings to her dorm, when she arrived early in the morning, she started moving her stuff in and organizing everything where it would stay for the next several years.

"I can't believe I'm moved in already." Kyoko looked around at the stack of empty boxes. "I thought I had more stuff than that. I guess starting a new life is easier than I thought."

She walked over to the hallway to bring the boxes to the recycling room. She dumped the boxes off, and was passing the elevator when it opened revealing a man carrying a small stack of items and a young woman carrying an equally large stack. "Hello there, could you direct us to room 915 please?" The man asked.

"Sure it's right next to my room, just follow me." Kyoko got a better look at the girl, and she recognized her. "Yui? Yui Ikari?"

"Yes, I'm Yui Ikari." Yui said, but she recognized the voice she heard, and it sounded vaguely familiar, then it hit her. "Wait, I recognize that voice, Kyoko?"

"Oh, Yui, it is you." Kyoko was happy to find someone she had met, even if she had only met her after having Yui's boobs smooshed in her face. "At least we didn't literally run into each other this time." Kyoko chuckled when she said this.

"Oh my god, I didn't expect to run into you so soon." Yui squealed. "I can't believe we're neighbors. It's nice to know someone here, even if we only met the once."

"Would you like some help Yui? It looks like you have a lot of stuff." Kyoko said looking at both Yui and the man with her and the amount of stuff they were carrying.

"That would be very much appreciated, Kyoko." Yui said with a smile as Kyoko took two boxes. "Thank you very much for your help."

"Ok, ladies, if you could quit gabbing for a sec and lead me to the room, that would be a tremendous help." Shinji piped up from behind the boxes. "Come on, this stuff ain't light you know."

"Don't mind my brother, he's always cranky like this." Yui laughed. "He acts all tough, but he's just a sweet guy under all that anger and sarcasm."

"Hey, come on Yui, stop kidding around!" Shinji yelled, a blush creeping up his face. "Come on, I really need to put this stuff down, its heavy."

"Alright, so he stops complaining I'll show where your room is." Kyoko said. "Just follow me, it's down the hall."

The small group walked down the hall to room 915. "Well here it is, do you have the key?" Kyoko asked.

Yui put down what she was carrying and felt into her pockets. "Oh no." Her eyes were wide with shock. "I left it in the car with the campus map."

"Damn, Yui, for someone so smart, you are really scatterbrained sometimes." Shinji said. He reached into his pocket and grabbed his keys. "Here, take these, and go down to the car and get your room key." He tossed the keys in the direction of his sister, who was caught off guard and missed catching the keys. "Oh, and bring something back up, I'll watch your stuff till you get back." He leaned against the wall and sighed.

"I'll come with you Yui, I don't mind helping you get more stuff back up here." Kyoko said as Yui went to retrieve the keys. "Let's take the elevator, I don't feel like using the stairs."

"Yeah, I don't feel like using the stairs either, I'm kinda lazy." Yui smiled. "Thanks again for your help, by the way."

"It's not a problem, it's the best way to make new friends." Kyoko said. "By the way, what doctoral program are you in? I didn't really get to ask you last time, I was in such a rush."

"Well, I'm in Professor Fuyutsuki's Metaphysical Biology doctoral program." Yui said proudly. "The day we ran into each other, I had just finished my meeting with him. I was so happy, and in such a rush to tell my family, that I didn't watch where I was going. But it was still nice to meet you, no matter how awkward it was." Yui blushed, remembering how they met, with her boobs smooshed into Kyoko's face.

"Wait a second, you're in Professor Fuyutsuki's program too? That's fantastic!" Kyoko was thrilled, she had been worried for two weeks that I wouldn't like who else was in the program. "Thank God one of them is you!"

"Oh, you're in the program too?" Yui's eyes were bright with joy. "I'm glad, that means we'll be spending time together, and we can become best friends!"

"I wonder who the other person in the program is?" Kyoko mused.

"Well, all Professor Fuyutsuki said is the two others in the program were girls, so we'll be friends while we work on our doctorates together." Yui was quite happy at the prospect of two intelligent friends, all thoughts of boys pushed from her mind.

The girls reached the front door and went outside and went to the car. Yui found the room key on the dashboard where she left it. When they collected the second load of Yui's belongings, Kyoko commented. "How did you fit so much stuff in this small car?"

"It's a gift, I really like playing Tetris." Yui joked.

Kyoko looked toward the front door and saw a young brunette with long hair. "Hey, look at her." Kyoko pointed over to her. "Isn't she a bit young to be at a college?"

"Don't point Kyoko, its rude." Yui said, spotting the girl. "Yeah, she looks familiar, like I've seen her before."

Mari had no idea the women behind her were talking about her. The majority of her belongings wouldn't be delivered until tomorrow, so all she had was a duffel bag full of clothes, a hello kitty backpack with some books, and a small padded bag with her laptop. She was humming to herself again, like she usually did.

**♪A singer in a smoky room**   
**A smell of wine and cheap perfume**   
**For a smile they can share the night**   
**It goes on and on, and on, and on♪**

She reached out for the door to open it and walked inside. She heard a call from behind her to hold the door. Mari obliged and held the door. She walked toward the elevator after hearing someone behind her saying. "Thank you." Mari reached the elevator and pressed the button to call it. She was completely oblivious to Yui and Kyoko being behind her.

Mari pressed the button for the 9th floor, and saw the two girls who were behind her step into the elevator. Yui noticed the button for the 9th floor was already pressed. "Oh, you're going to the 9th floor too?"

Mari was surprised someone was talking to her. At her last school, people had avoided her because of her age. "Yeah… I'm going to room 914." Mari recognized Yui as the 'pretty girl' she saw after her meeting with Fuyutsuki. "What room are you going to?"

"Well I'm in room 915, so we're right next to each other. I'm Yui Ikari, by the way, nice to meet you." Yui smiled. "I'd shake your hand, but both of our hands are full."

"I'm Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu, I'm in room 916, nice to meet ya." Kyoko winked, but she couldn't be seen behind Yui's belongings. The girls had decided, if they got in the elevator with Mari, that they would be nice and not treat her like a kid. "So what's your name?"

"I'm Mari Illustrious Makinami, it's nice to meet you both." Mari said shyly as the elevator dinged at their destination. The hallway was relatively empty, save for the man standing further down the hall, with a pile of boxes around him.

"Hey, girls, what took so long?" Shinji called down the hallway. "I thought you got lost or forgot about me."

Yui called back. "How could I forget you, you're so obnoxious sometimes, it's hard to forget."

"Yeah, yeah, sis, come on." Shinji started, but he noticed Mari behind them. "Hey, who's the kid? Isn't she a bit young for college? She looks like she's 12 or 13."

"Shinji, don't be rude!" Yui cried out. "She's going to be my other neighbor, so be nice!" Yui sounded a bit angry so Shinji backed off.

Mari, after hearing the exchange, felt a bit down. She knew she was young, but no one had ever really mentioned it in front of her, let alone that loudly. Her head slunk down, and her cheeks became flushed. She felt like crying. 'But, wait, that girl, Yui, defended me. No one's been that nice to me since my parents died, or my aunt even…'

Yui turned around after putting her stuff down and saw Mari's head slunk down, and she rounded on her brother. "Look what you did!" Yui yelled. "You made her sad! Now apologize to Mari and make her feel better!"

Shinji had never seen his sister actually be mad at someone, so he was caught a little off guard. "Hey, um, kid… sorry, I mean, Mari." He smiled while he talked to her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to call you out or anything. I mean, I should know that age and intelligence don't mean crap together, my sister over here is the smartest person I know, and has been way smarter than me since she was like five. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

Mari stood there, the sad look on her face had been replaced by a look of shock. Yui had defended her, and made her brother apologize. Even more confusing to Mari was that she was actually apologized to. 'I haven't been treated this nicely in a long time.' She thought. It took Mari a moment to realize what she should do. She lifted up her head and walked toward Shinji and hugged him. "You don't have to apologize, I just got wrapped up in my own thoughts." She smiled at him and then walked over to Yui and hugged her too. "Thank you for sticking up for me though, I hope we can be good friends."

Yui was shocked when Mari had hugged her brother, but she was even more shocked when Mari had come over and hugged her. Yui returned the hug. "I hope we become good friends too." The girls released their hug and Yui walked over to her door and gave the key to her brother. Mari, meanwhile, opened her own door and put her stuff inside on the bed. She walked back out to the hallway, and moved to help Yui move her stuff into her room.

At that moment the elevator opened again revealing Professor Fuyutsuki. He walked over to the group. "Good, I'm glad all three of you are here." He said quite cheerfully.

"All… three?" Yui and Kyoko said, both confused as the only two people besides themselves were Mari and Shinji, and seeing as Shinji was a fighter pilot… that only left… "Mari?" They both said simultaneously.

"You're in Professor Fuyutsuki's Doctoral Program too?" Yui asked.

"Yes, I am." Mari replied, she looked a little embarrassed, but was also glad that the people she had met were so friendly, and that they would be spending time together between their research for their respective doctorates.

"So she's the third huh, not bad, at least she's friendly." Kyoko said with a smile.

"Well, I'm glad you've all met." Fuyutsuki said. "Once you three are settled in, would you please come over to my office, we have some things to discuss about beginning your research." Fuyutsuki turned to leave. "Oh, and whoever owns the car out front should move it to a parking area before it gets towed."

"Ah crap, I gotta move the car, I can't have it towed." Shinji said, running towards the elevator. "Yui, let's go, you can grab the rest of your stuff, and I'll be back up to finish helping you unpack after parking the car somewhere more appropriate."

"I'll come and help too." Mari said. "Is there much stuff left?"

"No, not really" Yui said looking at the boxes of her stuff in the hallway. "There should only be three or four things left in the car."

"Ok, guys, I guess I'll stay here and watch the stuff." Kyoko said sarcastically. "I'll stay to make sure it isn't stolen or anything, alright Yui?"

"Thanks Kyoko, I appreciate it." Yui said departing for the elevator with Mari and her brother.

A few minutes later the elevator dinged, and Yui and Mari returned with the remainder of Yui's belongings. They walked over to Yui's door to see it open and the other boxes inside already. "Kyoko you didn't have to do that." Yui said, putting the boxes she was carrying on her bed.

"It's no problem, I didn't mind doing it." Kyoko said. "Speaking of stuff, Mari, don't you have any more stuff to move in besides those three bags you had before?"

"Oh, the rest of my stuff won't be here from Okinawa until tomorrow." Mari said. "But I have enough clothes and stuff to last a few days."

"Well, once my brother gets back, I'll tell him he can go back home, and we can go see Professor Fuyutsuki." Yui said.

As the girls stood there in Yui's room, they all thought to themselves. 'This looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship.'

* * *

November 1997 – Undisclosed Location

In a dark room, 12 monoliths lit up, each displaying the name SEELE and a number. The scene from above must have looked like a very evil clock.

'SEELE 01' spoke. "Well, it appears there are some pieces of the apocrypha puzzle are beginning to fall into place."

"Yes, this is quite an interesting development." 'SEELE 04' stated. "It appears that the Katsuragi expedition has finally found something in Antarctica. They are beginning the process of digging into what appears to be a subterranean cavern. It also appears they have obtained a sample, a large red sphere that had some EM Radiation coming off of it."

"Excellent… that means we may have found the catalyst for our desires." 'SEELE 03' quipped. "We may getting closer to our goal than we think."

"Let's not get carried away gentlemen, we do still have our work cut out for us." 'SEELE 01' said. "The sample should be sent off to the UK, they are already doing extensive testing on biomechanics, so it should go to them." He paused. "Now, what will we do regarding the other development?"

"It appears that a professor at Kyoto University has accepted three students into a doctoral program, and their research topics could help us create a way to initiate our plans for instrumentality." 'SEELE 09' responded. "They were brought together 19 months ago, and their research is progressing steadily."

"We could be looking at a viability and proof of concept within the next year." 'SEELE 12' added. "Their projects could assist with the recovered sample."

"Should any contact with these three individuals be made by us or a proxy?" 'SEELE 07' asked. "Or should we wait until a more appropriate time?"

"For now, we will contact the two older ones in a few months, about their research though the Artificial Evolution Laboratory." 'SEELE 02 said. "As for the younger girl, we should contact her thorough Alcion in London, perhaps her research will be of better suited there to that abomination they are suggesting on creating. Especially after they have received the sample, their research will be moving forward quite quickly."

"I concur with that plan, but contact should be held until late March, I'd like to see more of their research flushed out before we go and try to add it to the scenario." 'SEELE 01' began. "That would be our best course of action" 'SEELE 01' paused. "Well for the moment, I believe that was all there was to go over, unless there is more to report?" There was silence. "Then that concludes our meeting gentleman, until next time."

And with that the monoliths went dark once more.

* * *

December 1997 – Kyoto University

It was snowing outside. A quiet lull was hanging over the university. Winter break was coming, so the majority of students were getting ready to head home for the break, however, an intrepid trio were planning to stay behind for the break to continue their research, and also spend time together.

In the year and a half or so since Yui, Mari, and Kyoko began their doctoral studies they had become, as they had predicted, the best of friends. Their friendship had grown, not only because they lived next to each other, or because they were in the same doctoral program, but because they filled the holes in each other's hearts. Mari had wanted to have friends since she was little, but because most of the people her own age were never very interested in the 'odd little smart girl' she had been alone until meeting Yui and Kyoko. Kyoko wanted people to respect her intelligence over her beauty, which both girls did because they didn't want to get into her pants. As for Yui, all she ever wanted was to be around people. When she was around people, she was happy, and when people were around her, they were happy. And these girls were the definition of happy.

As to their research, it was also progressing quite admirably. The girls had realized after discussing their doctoral topics that they meshed together in an odd sort way, like their own friendship. Kyoko even joked that fate had brought them together because of what they wanted to accomplish.

Yui's research into the barriers separating people were beginning to show results. She had found some metaphysical evidence to the existence of these fields, but not the scientific purpose for their existence. She had named them in a paper she wrote on the subject. She named them Absolute Terror Fields for the reason that people are terrified to be close to one another. Yui hoped to have more evidence by the end of the term, and maybe even demonstrate the existence of one, with any luck. Yui hadn't changed that much, considering the time she spent in school, other than needing to get glasses that is.

As for Kyoko, her research into the cloning of human tissue was coming along. Her research had actually expanded into regeneration as well. She had found in her research that not only could a shell be made from a sampling of cells from a living or even a dead person, but that boy parts could be regenerated through use of specific drugs and a high electrical current. So far, however, the method has led only to the death of several lab rats. Kyoko was hoping that she could start to replicate lab rat 'shells' in the next few months, and then use those same shells for the regeneration experiments. Kyoko had changed for the better and became less sarcastic and more trusting of people thanks to her new friends.

Mari's research however, was coming along, but had stalled a few months ago. Mari was trying to prove the existence of a soul before she had moved on to trying to transfer a soul from one vessel to another, but was running into the roadblock of proving that a soul actually existed. This frustrated her quite a bit, as she was used to being the best at stuff, but she compared herself to her two classmates, and her research was the farthest away from completion, let alone proof of concept. Mari had changed a lot, considering she was a growing girl and all. Her hair was even longer, and she needed glasses. She didn't want glasses, so she opted for contacts so she wouldn't look, in her words. "Like a total nerd."

Fuyutsuki couldn't be prouder of his students. Each one was making great scientific strides and was working towards completing their research, and in Yui and Kyoko's case, at near breakneck speed. Fuyutsuki encouraged them the best he could, giving them all equal attention. Although, to some, Yui was his favorite because of her kind demeanor and her relentless determination.

Back to the present, Yui was in her room looking out the window at the snow. "It's so beautiful, I've always loved the snow, but I hate the cold." Yui laughed at the irony of her statement. She was taking a well–deserved break from her research. Yui decided that in order to continue her research she needed a week long break away from the lab to get a proper amount of sleep. This break also "happened" to allow her to enjoy both Christmas and New Year's.

Yui heard a knock on her door. She walked over to the door, and looked through the peephole to see Mari standing there soaking wet. She flung open the door. "Mari?! What happened? Are you ok?"

Mari was shivering quite a lot, every piece of clothing she had on was soaked with what looked like mud and slush, and this condition made her teeth chatter when she tried to talk. "Well… when I was walking… I slipped on some ice and fell… into a pile of half melted snow… and I can't find my room key… so I knocked on your door." Mari started to cough. "Could you please… help me?"

Yui pulled her into her room and grabbed a towel. "Of course I'll help you silly." Yui started to dry off Mari as best she could, but the wet clothes weren't helping the situation. "Why don't you go into the bathroom and take a warm shower so you don't get sick, and I'll find some clothes for you to wear." Yui smiled. "And then I'll go out and look for your key and see if I can find it tonight, if not, we'll look in the morning."

"Ok, Yui." Mari replied meekly. She started to walk to the bathroom, and even though she was still shivering, she felt a lot warmer. 'Maybe it's just because she's being so nice to me, like always.' Mari thought as she closed the door and started to strip off her cold, soaking wet clothes. She turned the shower on to the point where it looked like steam was emanating from the showerhead, not water. She stepped into the shower and yelped, the water had scalded her where it made contact on her body, her breasts.

"Mari?!" Yui called her from outside the bathroom. "Are you ok in there? Did you fall or something?"

Mari fiddled with the shower knob to cool the water down enough for it to be tolerable, but still warm enough to stop her shivering. "No, I'm ok, the water was too hot." Mari rubbed her chest where the water had scalded her. "I'm turning the water down, but I'm fine." Mari tested the water again and it was tolerable, so she stepped under it and started to warm herself up and clean off the filth that had soaked through her clothes from the disgusting brown snow.

"Ok, just don't burn yourself." Yui called. 'I think she's a little nervous about having lost her room key. If worse comes to worse, I'll just have her stay here tonight.' Yui thought 'We are friends after all, it's not a big deal.'

Mari finished her shower and grabbed another towel, and as Mari dried her face, she noticed the towel smelled. It didn't have a bad scent, just a familiar one. 'It smells like her.' Mari thought. She wrapped the towel around herself, resting it on her breasts and walked out of the bathroom.

Yui was sitting on her bed, dressed in boots and her coat. Next to her were a small pile of clothes. "Here, try these on, and see if they fit." Yui motioned to the clothes on her left. "I'll be back in a little bit, I'm going to search for your key. Do you remember where you fell?" Yui asked, grabbing a flashlight off her dresser.

"I fell right outside the research building." Mari replied as she blushed. "Just be careful, it's icy, and you shouldn't get hurt trying to help me."

"I'll be fine, as my brother puts it, I have dumb luck." Seeing the sad look on Mari's face, Yui thought two things. 'Awww, it's cute that she worries about me.' And the second thing 'I wonder if that's how I look when I pout at Shinji?' Yui put those thoughts aside for a moment. "I promise that I'll be careful, Mari, ok?"

"Ok." Mari said, still looking at the ground. Mari only looked up when she heard the door close. She looked at the clothes Yui had left on her bed. There were a few sweaters, a pair of sweatpants, some high cut shorts, some socks, and a few t–shirts to choose from. Mari realized however that there were no panties in the stuff Yui had given her. Mari had to think. 'I guess I'll use these as panties.' She thought holding up the shorts. 'It's not like I have any other choice. Plus, I'm starting to get cold and should get dressed.' Mari picked out what she wanted to wear and put it on. She moved the remaining clothes on top of Yui's dresser. While she was doing that, she started to feel tired. Mari walked over to Yui's bed and flopped down and fell asleep quite quickly. But before she drifted off to sleep she muttered. "This smells like her too."

Yui was walking back to the dorm. She was cold, but it was worth it, she had found Mari's key in the snow, along with a ¥10,000 bill buried under a lot of snow. "Boy, it's the best Christmas Eve ever." Yui said to no one in particular. "But I do wonder where Kyoko is." Yui looked at the research building. All the lights were off, so Yui assumed Kyoko was in her room. She walked into the building and boarded the elevator. When she reached her room, she realized she had forgotten her key inside. 'Shoot, why did I leave the key behind?' Yui chucked. 'That's kinda ironic though, go out to find a key, forget your own key.' Mari had locked the door, so Yui couldn't get in. She knocked and heard a loud scream from inside the room. "Mari, can you unlock the door? I left my key behind."

The door clicked open to reveal Mari, nursing a sore spot on her forehead. "Sorry, you scared me." She said sullenly.

"What did you do? Fall out of bed?" Mari nodded. "Aww, you fell asleep, huh? I didn't mean to take so long, but I did find your key." Yui smiled as she held up the key to show Mari, and walked in and shut the door.

Mari, still nursing the sore spot which was starting to form a large bump, jumped when another knock came to the door. "Yui! Are you ok? I heard a crash." It was Kyoko.

Yui opened the door, and Kyoko stepped in. "Did you fall, Yui? You have to be more careful." She saw Mari and her bump however. "Wait, Mari are you ok?"

"Yeah, my head just hurts a bit." Mari replied, still nursing her injury.

"Let me see." Kyoko grabbed Mari's face gently and inspected the bump. She touched it lightly with her index finger, which made Mari yelp. "That hurts a lot huh? Well whatever the reason you fell out of Yui's bed is, you shouldn't be sleeping alone tonight, just to be safe." Kyoko turned to Yui. "Speaking of, why is she in your bed?" Yui explained the situation to Kyoko. "Oh, Mari, that's why you shouldn't work so late, you can't see the ice in the dark." Kyoko gave the young girl a hug. "Why were you working so late anyway?"

Mari wanted to say something, but didn't want to admit her research had stalled, and that's why she was so tired, and angry. 'Both of their projects are moving along fine, but mine is stuck! Why me, why can't I be better!' Mari thought, as tears, once again had begun to well up in her eyes. Her two friends noticed the glistening in her eyes. They had never seen Mari cry before, as Mari had been careful to hide this from them, along with some of her past (mainly her dead family) so that they wouldn't view her as just some little kid. As she had done when she was younger, she cried alone in her room. But not this time.

"The reason I was in the lab was because my research has stalled. I haven't made any progress in weeks! I'm falling behind, and I hate being behind!" Mari started to cry, but continued anyway. "I just don't want to be seen as the failure of our group! I just don't want to disappoint anyone! I don't want to look like a… A STUPID KID!" She stopped talking as she continued to sob. Yui and Kyoko looked at each other, and were confused by her outburst. They knew she was young, but they treated her like an adult because she acted like one. 'Does she really view herself as a kid?' Kyoko thought. 'She's way smarter than I was at her age. Maybe this has something to do with her past she doesn't like talking about.'

Yui however was the first to react, she grabbed Mari and hugged her tight, letting the younger girl cry onto her shoulder. "It's ok, let it all out Mari." Yui hugged her tighter. "It's ok to cry sometimes, and I know working on a thesis is tough, but sometimes you have to know when to take a break before you burnout. And neither of us want that to happen."

"Yeah, you mean a lot to me, and to Yui, we just don't want you to cry." Kyoko tried to sound more compassionate, but she was still confused as to why Mari was crying.

Yui continued while still letting poor Mari cry on her shoulder, but her tone was more serious and motherly. "So here's what's gonna happen. You're not going back to that lab until after New Year's. You're going to take a break and get some sleep, and a new idea will come to you."

"No it won't." Mari sobbed. "I suck at this."

Yui released her from the hug, but held her so they faced each other. "Mari, you don't suck, you're the smartest person I know, you'll find a solution, you just need to take step back and it will come to you."

"But… " Mari started, but Yui cut her off. "No buts, Makinami. No lab work for now, and as for tonight, because of what Kyoko said, you're not sleeping alone, you're staying here tonight, and tomorrow, we can talk about everything that happened, ok?"

Mari stood there, wiping the tears and snot from her face. "Ok…" Was the only response Mari could muster.

Kyoko yawned loudly. "Well, seeing as it's so late, I think it's time to go to bed." She started walking towards the door. While Yui finally took off her boots and coat. The clock on Yui's desk beeped, as it did every hour. The time shown was. "12:00."

As Kyoko left the room, Yui called to her. "Merry Christmas, Kyoko!"

"Yeah, yeah, Merry Christmas you two." Kyoko said as she closed the door.

Yui locked the door, shut off the light and walked over to her bed, and hoped on it. "Merry Christmas Mari!"

Mari walked over to the bed and crawled in, getting comfortable she cuddled up next to Yui. "Merry Christmas." Mari said as she drifted off into a deep sleep.

* * *

March 1998 – Kyoto University

Mari was in a good mood. She was walking to the lab to continue working on her research, and to also meet Professor Fuyutsuki, who was going to be doing a check on how they were doing with their research.

In the last few months, Mari had moved ahead very slowly with proving a soul exists. But after listening to Yui's advice at Christmas, and taking a break, a thought came to her. She realized she had been trying to prove the existence of a soul with those who were deceased. Mari realized she needed to prove the existence with a living person, and then try to find evidence of a soul in the dead.

Mari approached the Scientific Research Building and went up to her lab, and sat down at her computer. Her lab was covered in notes and scribbles detailing how she was proving a soul existed. There were complicated formulas and diagrams, and a prototype of a machine that could detect and measure the strength of the soul. Mari sat and waited for Professor Fuyutsuki to come in. She had the first appointment with him, and the wait was slowly killing her. 'When will he get here? I can't wait to tell him I'm making progress.' Mari though, and to pass the time, Mari started humming to herself again.

**♪An angel's smile is what you sell**   
**You promise me heaven then put me through hell**   
**Chains of love got a hold on me**   
**When passion's a prison you can't break free♪**

After what to Mari seemed like forever (it was really only 10 minutes), she finally heard a knock on the door. "Mari are you in?" Fuyutsuki said. "I'm here to review your progress."

Mari jumped off her chair and bolted to the door. "I'm here professor!" She flung the door open. "Good morning Professor, how are you?" Mari bowed slightly when she said this.

"I'm doing well Mari, thank you for asking." Fuyutsuki said while he looked around the lab. 'A lot has changed in here from the last check in, I'm glad she got over her scientist's block.' He kept looking around seeing the various formulas listed on the notes taped up all over the place. "So, Mari, how have you been doing?"

"Well, my research has been picking up lately… " Mari started, but Fuyutsuki interrupted her.

"Mari, I asked how _you_ were doing. We can talk about your research in a few minutes. I haven't had much time this semester to check up on any of you girls, or your research." Fuyutsuki said kindly.

Mari was taken aback, the professor was asking about her, and not just her research. 'He really is a nice guy.' Mari thought. 'He's as kind as Yui is.' Mari concluded, but decided she should answer the question asked to of her. "Well, professor, I've been doing ok. I had some problems with falling behind with my research before Christmas, but Yui set me straight and told me not to stress so much and to learn when to take a break." Mari blushed. "Yui, Kyoko, and I have become very good friends." Mari smiled at Fuyutsuki, still with a blush on her face. 'It's nice to have friends.' She thought.

"Well, I'm glad you've made some friends, Mari. I'm happy that you're doing so well." Fuyutsuki paused. "But, what problems did you have with your research?"

"Well, I got stuck, and couldn't think of a way to prove the existence of a soul. But after Yui forced me to take a break did I realize the answer was in front of me the whole time. You can't prove the existence of a soul on someone who's dead because all of the electrical impulses in the body have gone. I also realized that Yui's A.T. Field has something to do with the soul as well. I pieced together, this theory." Mari grabbed a stack of mismatched papers from her desk and handed them to Fuyutsuki. "I realized that in all of my previous tests, a living person emits a frequency below extremely low frequency, somewhere under 0.5 Hz. It took so long to identify because the frequency is so abnormally low. I started to build this." Mari motioned to the bulky looking machine. "To scan the body of a person to detect ridiculously low frequencies. Once I've established that these frequencies are in fact emitted from the person, I can move on to a corpse to detect a frequency similar or lower than what would be present in a living person."

"Well, Mari, I'm impressed. You found a way to solve your problem, but how do you plan on transferring the 'soul' to another vessel?" Fuyutsuki asked, curious if she had come up with a tentative solution to this problem as well.

"I haven't worked out the practical solution yet, professor, but I have a theory." Mari smiled widely, very proud of her work. "Well, if all souls are some sort of frequency, then it should be plausible to transfer it using something like a radio receiver to record the signal, and then a very focused transmitter to transfer the recorded data to the vessel."

"Mari, I'm very impressed. In the past few months you've come a long way." Fuyutsuki was beaming, he was incredibly proud of her breakthrough. "Now, I do expect a formal paper on this, sometime next term perhaps, not a stack of messy coffee and ramen stained sheets of paper like this." He held up the stack of discolored and mismatched papers in his hand, and handed them back to Mari. "I'm glad you're out of your rut, Mari, you're doing wonderful work, never forget that."

"Thank you professor." Mari bowed again. "I don't want to disappoint you, or your doctoral program. I'll continue trying my best."

"I expect nothing less from any of my students but their best." And with that Fuyutsuki got up and left the lab. "Have a good day Mari, I'll be back for another check–in in a few weeks."

"Bye professor, have a good rest of your day." Mari said happily.

Fuyutsuki was proud, but he still had two others to check up on. He knocked on the next closest lab door. "Come in." Kyoko was sitting at her lab desk with magnifying goggles on. She was inspecting a lab rat she working on, or rather, one she was forcibly cloning from a small sampling of DNA. "Oh, Doc, it's you." Fuyutsuki liked the nickname she'd come up with and thought it was endearing, even if it wasn't wholly appropriate, Fuyutsuki couldn't fault her for being sincere.

"Ah, Kyoko, how are you doing?" Fuyutsuki asked politely.

"I'm doing great Doc, I'm finally working on the practical use of my thesis, creating an empty vessel from a sample of DNA. So far it's been 3 days, and it's only, at my estimation, 17% complete. I need to find a way to bombard it with more energy, that won't fry the tissue. Perhaps an oscillating wavelength from Extremely Low Frequency to Extremely High Frequency might do it. I can't bump it anywhere into the infrared or ultraviolet range, otherwise I'll cook the tissue, or give it cancer." Kyoko laughed. "That'd be great, creating cancer _and_ a vessel/clone."

"So, what are you using now as a frequency range?" Fuyutsuki couldn't feel the any emanating vibrations coming from the diodes above the specimen, and they were being focused on the specimen with pinpoint accuracy.

"Well, I'm using Ultra Low Frequency to Ultra High Frequency, which is an improvement over the narrow frequency range I used before that." Kyoko sighed. "I think, with the greater frequency range, the vessel being created being bombarded with electrons, and wavelengths won't be able to adjust to the frequencies as easily as there is greater range of frequencies available. Although, I may be missing something. A liquid medium perhaps to immerse the growing vessel in to expedite or assist in the generation process."

"Well, Kyoko, I think you're coming along quite nicely. I'll let you get back to work." Fuyutsuki turned to leave. "But I do expect a long detailed paper on your findings in the next few months."

"Thanks, Doc, be seeing ya." Kyoko called as he left her lab. "I'll get the paper done for you once I have some concrete findings." Kyoko smiled, putting her magnifiers back on to continue monitoring her experiment 'I wonder why he's always so calm? Maybe it's because he's so kind. He is the best teacher I've ever had, open and caring, but always ready to let you bounce ideas off of. I just wish he wasn't so busy.'

Fuyutsuki was looking forward to the final pupil he had to check–in on. She was his favorite, not that he would admit this openly, and her work was more than just hard science, it was also trying to understand why humans can only become so close before feeling scared and having to run away. Fuyutsuki also felt Yui's work had the most widespread practical use. While Mari's thesis was exceptional, it would erode the basis of many religions around the world, and Kyoko's research dealt with cloning and to a lesser extent limb regrowth, but the process would probably hurt a living being, and make its real world use quite limited.

He knocked on Yui's lab door, he didn't hear anything, but saw the light was on, and went inside to see Yui asleep at her desk, drooling slightly, and snoring softly. 'Funny, she tells Mari to take a break once in a while, but she ends up falling asleep at her lab desk. How cute.' Fuyutsuki thought. "Yui, are you awake?"

Yui jumped at the noise and almost fell out of her chair. "Sensei? I'm sorry, I forgot you were coming today." Yui stammered, embarrassed that she had been caught sleeping.

"It's alright, Yui." Fuyutsuki said as he smiled kindly at her, with a special smile reserved only for her. "But I expect a glowing report of your activities with your thesis."

"Sure thing, sensei." Yui wiped the collected drool from her face and grabbed a notebook from her desk. "Well, I've been working on a detector for detecting the A.T. Field, but the problem with building such a detector is that I'm unsure of what the A.T. Field is actually composed of. I think it's somewhere in the lower wavelengths of EM Spectrum, but, it also has the properties of something else indescribable outside of an anime or sci–fi show."

"Yui, as crazy or outlandish as your theory may be, you can say it out loud. I won't judge you." Fuyutsuki said, trying to support Yui's discoveries, even if they may sound crazy.

"Well… perhaps… I would call it… subspace." Yui blushed, seemingly embarrassed at what she was suggesting. "I would call the field slightly out of phase with our reality, but still occupying the same space, which is what makes it hard to detect. I think once I get this machine built, I will be able to detect the A.T. Fields and be able to visualize them as well." Yui motioned to a device strange device on her lab table that looked like a mini radome with a pair of goggles attached to a computer unit that reads the data from the radome.

"What is your progress on this detector Yui?" Fuyutsuki was curious to see if she had a major breakthrough.

"Well, I can turn the detector on, but I still have to program the computer for what it is searching for, and the antenna unit needs to be fine–tuned a bit, so I'd say it's probably half done." Yui was proud of herself for her accomplishments.

Fuyutsuki walked over to examine the machine. "Yui, I'm very impressed. I'm very glad you're coming along so well. I'll guess that it'll be a few months before you have some concrete findings."

"Yes, sensei. I'm hoping the same thing. Do you want paper for when I have some definite findings?" Kyoko asked.

"Yes, Yui that would be excellent. Whenever you the paper to me will be fine." Fuyutsuki headed for the door. "And, Yui, have a good rest of your day, but perhaps you should instead go get some sleep, and not leave a wet mark on your desk."

"Alright sensei, that sounds like a good idea." Yui replied as Fuyutsuki left the room. 'Sensei is great mentor, I'm always inspired when he's around.' Yui smiled. 'I want to make him proud of his choice in me, and in my work.'

Fuyutsuki left Yui's lab to go back to his own, extremely proud in his decision to bring these girls together in his program. 'Not only are they friends with each other, but they have, in such a short time done so much with what was mere theory two years ago. I don't think I could ever be convinced that it was a mistake to bring them together.' He thought.

Meanwhile in the admissions office, a tall, stony face man was standing at the desk with an application in his hand. "Good afternoon, I'm here to drop off my transfer request to the Dean."

"What is your reason for transfer, sir?" The secretary asked in a nasally a monotone voice.

"My current doctoral program is closing down after the sudden death of its professor, heart failure they said. I wanted to transfer here because I've heard such wonderful things about your doctoral programs." The man said.

"Do you have an appointment, sir?" the secretary asked, not wanting to hear anyone's life story.

"Yes, it was set for 10 o'clock this morning." The man said.

"Your name please." The secretary asked.

"Gendo Rokubungi." Gendo said with a smirk on his face.

To Be Continued

* * *

A/N: I do not own Evangelion or any of the characters, GAINAX and the other distributors of NGE related material do. I am simply using them as a backdrop for my fanfic.

As for the songs used in this chapter, I don't own them either, and they're listed below in order of appearance:  
Journey – _Don't Stop Believing_ (1981)  
Bon Jovi – _You Give Love A Bad Name_ (1986)

Holy crap that was a long chapter. Especially compared to the other ones I've completed thus far.

So, now with meaningful character interaction, the chapters will be longer than before. I hope that I'm getting across that Mari is a very broken girl (makes Asuka almost seem normal, right?) Because of her brokenness, she's going to go through a lot once she makes it to the future. And if any of you have read the manga, then you can kinda see where she's going with Yui. And yes, the return of the original stony faced man, Gendo Rokubungi. What is in store for him next chapter I wonder?

Now, the name of chapter is an allusion to the three fates of Greek Mythology. Each of the girls represents one of the fates. Kyoko measure create the string of life, Yui measures it, and Mari cuts it. I set this to what each girl was researching (however loosely it may fit), regeneration (creation), understanding (measurement), and transference (death). This motif also plays into the fact that their research will play a direct part in the creations of the Evangelions, making them the ones who, in essence, control the fate of humanity.

I hope that wasn't too deep for an Author's Note, and if it was, my apologies.

I also started to include the sweet magic–y science that will be built on in the future. The tough part was making something up that didn't enter into. "Treknobabble" territory but was still based on somewhat actual science–y concepts.

As I said before, and will always say at the end of chapter, please leave comments, as I would like to try to improve the story going forward any way I can. And, hell, constructive criticism is a good thing.

* * *

つづく


	9. What is Love?

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Legacy  
Episode I: The Phantom Menace

* * *

Chapter 9 – What is Love?  
March 1998 – Undisclosed Location

In a dark room, those familiar 12 monoliths hummed to life, with their large lettering beginning to glow and casting a mechanical glow in the dark room.

'SEELE 01' spoke first, as always. "Gentleman, I believe some of you have a report to share with the rest of the group."

"Yes, news from Antarctica, there is some sort of unidentified energy signal coming from deep within the discovered cavern." 'SEELE 03' stated. "Perhaps it is the lifeform mentioned in the apocrypha."

"It must be, as what is written in the apocrypha must be taken as true." 'SEELE 11' said rather enthusiastically. Many of the monoliths began to voice their opinions all at once.

"SILENCE!" 'SEELE 04' said, bringing order back to the meeting. "Whether it is the apocrypha being or not, it must be investigated."

"That is correct." 'SEELE 01' spoke again. "Now there is one other report correct?"

"Incorrect, there are two additional reports to discuss." 'SEELE 05' said this time. "The first is a discovery in Hakone, Japan. There is a second cavern similar to what was found in Antarctica. We are awaiting funds to continue with further analysis."

"No, the analysis will wait until the Katsuragi expedition is finished in Antarctica, which is projected at 22 to 26 more months." 'SEELE 02' interjected. "We must devote the totality of our resources to this one task, and see what comes of it."

"Now, what about the final report that was mentioned?" 'SEELE 01' was growing impatient. "Does it concern Kyoto University?"

"Yes, it appears that their research has taken off as of late, and is nearing the final stages. I believe it is time to initiate contact with the three students." 'SEELE 07' said. "What say you about contacting them?"

"Well, I believe it's time for the Human Instrumentality Committee and Gehirn to contact them." 'SEELE 01' stated. "We should have a plan to separate them so they don't figure out that their work is interconnected. We will come up with a plan for that later, but for now, let us prepare to bring them into the equation."

* * *

April 1998 – Kyoto University

Professor Fuyutsuki was in a rush to find two of his students. They were being contacted by the government about their research. He saw the three girls he was looking for in the back of the research building, nears its relaxation garden. The reason the garden was back there was to allow the students studying somewhere beautiful to take a break, and let their minds wander from their work. However as most scientists abhorred the outdoors or stopping their research, it was a quiet place to hang out. "Yui, Kyoko, are you free the moment?"

The girls looked up to see a very out of breath and red in the face Fuyutsuki standing there and breathing quite heavily. He looked as though he was going to pass out.

"What do you need us for, Doc?" Kyoko asked.

"Both of you have been requested to go to the president's office for a meeting regarding your research." Fuyutsuki said, still panting from all the running he did to find them. "Your presence is requested immediately."

"I guess we better go, see ya later, Mari." Kyoko said getting up off the bench.

"Bye, Mari. We'll tell you all about the meeting when we get back." Yui said, following Kyoko and Fuyutsuki toward the administration building on the other side of campus.

"Bye guys." Mari said. She got up to walk back to the dorm, rather than to the lab as was the original plan. The reason for this change was Mari felt like crying again. It had been a while since she had cried, in fact, she hadn't cried at all since the outburst on Christmas Eve, but today, at this moment, she felt defeated. 'Why their research and not mine? I've made just as many strides as they have, and I'm very close to finishing that damn contraption to detect souls.' Mari had started to cry without being able to think of a reason why she was crying, was she jealous? That was the most likely cause, and the same reason why she cried on Christmas Eve, disappointment in herself, and the distain of not being number one. That made Mari too sad for words.

Meanwhile Yui and Kyoko were nervous about interacting with whoever had called them ask about their research. When they arrived at the administrative building the secretary directed Yui and Kyoko to different conference rooms next to each other, while Fuyutsuki was told to wait outside.

Each girl walked into an identical looking meeting, with three interviewers at one end of the table, and a single chair to sit in at the opposite end. From the looks of it, it was quite intimidating. Both girls had a seat, and the conference rooms' doors shut. After about an hour, with Fuyutsuki waiting patiently for both girls, the doors opened, and the girls came out. Both girls looked relieved, and happy as they were both smiling. Yui sounded like she was going to say something, but Kyoko beat her to the punch.

"How did it go Yui?" Kyoko asked.

"Did they offer you anything?" Fuyutsuki sounded as though he would burst out in dance if she said yes.

"It went well, I think. They offered to have me do my research at the Artificial Evolution Laboratory for some organization named Gehirn. And something called the Human Instrumentality Committee for the Betterment of Mankind will be funding my research, and there's no budget to worry about." Yui explained.

"Yui, that's wonderful." Fuyutsuki had a look of pride on his face.

"Thank you very much, sensei." Yui said, bowing slightly, and then she turned to Kyoko. "What did they offer you?"

"Well, it was pretty much the same as you, but Gehirn in Germany needs someone, but that if I didn't want to move, I'd be able to work at the AEL with you. Although they offered to pay for my moving expenses and also living expenses abroad, I'm not sure if I want to go to Germany, it's so far. I may be part German, but I really never had any intention of going there. I'd rather stay here and continue my research." Kyoko sounded tired. "I'm gonna head back to the dorm to get some rest, what about you?"

"I think I'm going to get some lunch." Yui said, rubbing her growling stomach. "I'll see you when I get back." Yui turned to leave. "Bye, sensei, I dropped off my paper this morning so take a look at it when you have a moment."

"Alright, Yui, come see me tomorrow about your paper, and then we can go over your final dissertation." Fuyutsuki called at the retreating form of Yui.

"Alrighty." Yui skipped (quite literally) off to the lunchroom.

When Yui got to the cafeteria, the line was obnoxiously long. Yui passed the time by looking around. Thankfully the line didn't take too long. Today there were four meals to choose from. Set A, Curried Pork Rice with a small green salad on the side, Set B Salmon with Miso Soup and Milk Bread (Yui's favorite), Set C the totally vegetarian option of tofu stir fry, and Set D was for some of the foreign students, or those who wanted to try foreign food, Chicken Fried Steak, Mashed Potatoes, assorted vegetables, and of course there was gravy. By the time Yui got to near the front of the line, the food was running out. The guy in front of her was at the front of the line. "Set B, please." He took the tray and went to pick out his drink and pay, when Yui said. "I'd like what he had please."

The lunch lady told Yui. "I'm sorry miss, but that man got the last one."

"Oh, well, I'll have Set A then, please." The stony faced man heard Yui's exchange with the lunch lady, and while we was making his tea, Yui bypassed him by getting water, paying, and finding a table to sit at. The man followed her to her table and stood there, and set his tray down. Yui didn't notice him, until he spoke, as she was disappointed about not getting what she wanted for lunch. "I'll switch with you, so give me yours." He slid her tray away from her, and slid his into its place, switching the drinks from the trays as well.

Yui blushed a bit. "Oh… thank you."

"No worries." The man started to walk away. "See you."

Yui, recognizing the first opportunity to talk to boy in months had a crazy thought. "Um, would you like to eat together?" She called, as the man walked away.

"Huh?" The man sounded confused.

"You don't want to eat with me?" Yui sounded just as confused.

"It's not that, I just prefer to be alone." He replied.

"Oh, c'mon, stay and eat with me, it's the least I do considering you switched lunches with me." She smiled at him with that goofy grin she used on her brother when they were younger. After a minute or so, the man sat down across from Yui. "I'm Yui by the way, Yui Ikari. It's nice to meet you… um, what's your name?" Yui said, flubbing the last part in an attempt to learn the man's name.

"My name is Gendo, Gendo Rokubungi, it's nice to meet you as well, Ms. Ikari." Gendo said, quite politely.

* * *

June 1998 – Kyoto University

Gendo and Yui were spending time together after another successful date. Yui had, since they first met, been able to put a smile on Gendo's otherwise unmovable face. After meeting him two months ago, they started to send more and more time together. He lived in the same dorm as her, but on the 5th floor, so, Yui would go down to his room and talk to him all night. Mari had become suspicious of her behavior and followed her down one night, surreptitiously of course. She found out about her and Gendo, and was somewhat sad at the development. Since Mari found out, she had been slightly more abrasive with Yui and even Kyoko, and often not spending as much time with the two of them as she used to. Kyoko, on the other hand, knew nothing about her former lover and her best friend being together. She didn't even know he was on campus. Yui had kept her relationship secret from her friends, mostly because Gendo was such a closed off person. But Yui had a more selfish reason. All Yui kept thinking was that she had found 'the one' in Gendo. She had her reasons that she loved him, and that fact, of Yui being in love, was something Gendo was as of yet unaware of. At least for now anyway.

Yui was meeting Gendo on the quad, to tell him how she felt. It had been almost two months and a half and she couldn't get the thought of love out of her head whenever she thought of him. Yui's life was starting to come together, she had finished her dissertation, and had dropped it off at Fuyutsuki's office, and she was prepping to tell a man she loved him, for Yui, it was the perfect day. She saw Gendo, standing awkwardly in his long coat and dark shirt and pants waiting for her with his signature stony face. "Gendo!" Yui called, waving at him. When he saw her, a smile broke out on his face, a true and genuine smile.

"Hello, Yui." Gendo greeted her kindly. "How are you?"

Yui was nervous. "I'm fine, I just submitted my dissertation. Hopefully in the next week or so Professor Fuyutsuki will tell me when I can present it to the board for approval."

"I'm glad for you, Yui. With my change of schools, I hope to finish my doctorates in a few months, maybe I'll be a doctor by winter." Gendo, looked at Yui as he said this, and realized she had something else on her mind 'Whenever her nose crinkles like that, she has something else she wants to say, but is avoiding saying. However, she does look rather… cute… when she does that.' He sighed, he'd never said anyone was cute before, not even in thought, maybe Kyoko, but no one else. "Yui, is something on your mind, you seem distracted about something."

"Hmm, what?" Yui was drawn out of her thoughts on how to tell Gendo she loved him. "Oh, I was just thinking it would be nice if you met my sensei… " Yui blushed. "I mean Professor Fuyutsuki. It would be nice if you met him." Yui smiled at Gendo. "Well, I guess if you ever got into any trouble you could use him as a reference. I know that people like to fight you because they don't like your opinions, but they just don't like being told that someone doesn't agree with them." Yui was surprised her little fib had spiraled out of control so fast, but this had been on her mind as well. Gendo had a knack for pissing people off, and Yui was unaffected by it. 'I guess Shinji gave me immunity to that.' She thought.

"Well, Yui the next time I get in a scuffle, I'll call your sensei." Gendo looked at her, and her nose was still slightly scrunched. "Yui, there's still something on your mind, isn't there."

"Well… yes there is." Yui was at a loss for words. "Gendo, I've been trying to find a way to say this without… without sounding desperate, but it's something I can't get out of my mind." Yui was having trouble, but if she didn't say it now, she probably would never be able to. "Gendo, I… I… I love you."

Gendo was floored. No one had ever said they loved him, not even Kyoko. This was truly a first for him. He was unable to say anything. He had found love, and it felt quite fantastic. Instead of responding with words, Gendo did something even more meaningful, he leaned towards Yui and kissed her, in public! Gendo wasn't big on public displays of affection, but he knew that it would mean a lot to Yui if he did.

And boy did it. Yui was so happy, not only had Gendo kissed her, which was a rare occurrence. But the only times they had kissed before where in his room. Yui was so glad she had told him how she felt, all she could describe it as was love. Yui assumed by the kiss, Gendo, with his always unspoken words, loved her too.

Yui and Gendo were completely oblivious to the people standing around watching them kiss. Some people were dumbfounded. In his short time on campus, Gendo had made quite a negative name for himself as he had everywhere he'd ever been. But at least when he was with Yui, he was truly happy.

After a long embrace, they parted ways, with Yui heading back to her dorm, and Gendo, was heading off campus to get drink. Unbeknownst to Gendo, who was in a sort of afterglow, was being followed by several students to whatever bar he was heading to.

When Gendo arrived at the bar he ordered scotch on the rocks, and was just finishing his first one when eight guys walked in. "Hey, you, Rokubungi." The leader of them shouted.

Gendo turned to face the one calling him out. "Yes?" He responded in an unusually calm voice. "What is it that you want? Can you not see that I'm otherwise engaged?"

"What were you doing with sweet Yui?" one of the guys accused. "Why were you defiling her?!"

"Defiling? You mean the kiss on the quad?" Gendo was staying calm, however this calmness was wearing on the guys.

"Yes, that! How dare you take her innocence!" The guy yelled. "What gives you the fucking right?!"

"Her love does." This statement threw the eight guys over the edge. Several of them rushed Gendo, throwing punches and kicks. Gendo defended himself by taking the bar stool and breaking it on one of the guys, then he took a bottle of wine and beat several of them into submission. However, Gendo was succumbing to the remaining three guys. However before he was taken down, the police came in and arrested all of them.

While in jail Gendo was asked to give a reference to bail him out. To keep his promise to Yui, he told them to call Professor Kozo Fuyutsuki, of Kyoto University.

Fuyutsuki's office phone rang. "Good afternoon, Professor Fuyutsuki, Metaphysical Biology. What can I do for you?" He said.

"Hello, this is the Kyoko Police Department. Do you know a Gendo Rokubungi, professor?" The duty officer said.

"Not directly, I've only heard rumors about him since he transferred to the university." Fuyutsuki responded.

"Well, he says a Yui Ikari told him to use you as a reference." The officer replied.

"Yui did? Well that's interesting. Anyway, what about Rokubungi?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"He needs to be bailed out, sir, he was in quite a fight at a bar." The officer said.

"Me? Well, I guess that'll be all right, when should I come by?" Fuyutsuki asked.

15 minutes later, Fuyutsuki arrived at the police station to bail out Gendo. The weather had also changed in last 15 minutes as well. Clouds had rolled in and a heavy rain was falling. Gendo was led outside to be released into Fuyutsuki's custody. "Professor, it's a pleasure to meet you. I've been waiting." He had bruises on his face and his right arm was wrapped in bandages and in a sling, and he was wearing his jacket over his shoulders. "A woman I know has told me so much about you, and I've wanted to meet you for quite a while."

"Well, I guess the rumors about you are true, getting into a drunken bar brawl is right on the money." Fuyutsuki replied gruffly.

"Well, the argument was a little one sided, and I'm used to getting bad reactions from people." Gendo said, rubbing his injured arm.

"Well, you're certainly going to get one from me." Fuyutsuki turned to walk away.

Gendo laughed. "Well, professor, you are just the man I was expecting." Gendo laughed again and followed the professor back to the university.

Meanwhile, back at the university, Mari was in her lab, nearing the completion of her 'soul detector' when she got a phone call requesting her presence in the administrative building. Mari was confused as to what they may want, but she went along anyway, as it could be important. 'It's like the same kind of call Yui and Kyoko got a while back, maybe it's about my research.' She thought.

She hummed to herself on the way to the office.

**♪Rising up, back on the street**   
**Did my time, took my chances**   
**Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet**   
**Just a man and his will to survive♪**

When Mari arrived at the office, she was directed to the Dean Jushiro Kyoraku's office. Mari was nervous, and afraid. 'Why am I at the dean's office? Am I in trouble or something? Maybe this isn't about my research like I thought.' Her face showed the worry quite clearly. 'I'm just over reacting, that's all. I'm sure it's about my research.' She knocked on the door.

"Come in." the voice inside said, she opened the door and was greeted warmly by Dean Kyoraku. "Ah, Ms. Makinami, please come in."

"Good afternoon, Dean Kyoraku." Mari bowed slightly. "It's a pleasure to meet you." Mari still looked nervous, and the dean noticed this.

"Ms. Makinami, are you nervous about being called here quite so suddenly." He smiled warmly at her. "It's nothing bad, I assure you. I simply asked you here to go over an offer we received regarding you and your research."

"An offer regarding my research?" The anxious look on her face was erased by a bright smile.

"Well, I can see you are happy about this news." The dean sat down on one of two couches facing each other near the window, and motioned too Mari to sit on the other sofa. Mari gently put her bag next to her. "So the offer is from the United Kingdom, from Oxford, for a government research project regarding some classified technology in London. All they would tell me until you formally accepted was that they wanted the best metaphysical student we had." he paused for a moment to catch his breath. "They will cover all of your expenses to move and study abroad, you'd be classified as a special research student."

The look on Mari's face became somewhat sad, her eyes were not as wide open as they once were, the brightness in her eyes has disappeared, and the smile on her face was replaced with a slight frown. 'They want the best metaphysical biology student, and they picked me? Don't they want Yui? She's much better than I am.' Mari thought.

The changes in Mari's appearance had been unnoticed by the dean. "Ms. Makinami, how old are you again?"

"I'm sixteen sir. I came here two years ago after receiving my master's degree." Mari replied.

"Sixteen, eh? Impressive, very impressive." The dean picked up Mari's file from the table between them. "Well, based upon your grades and the faculty reviews of Professor Fuyutsuki, I have no problem recommending you, that is, if you want to go of course."

"Sir, I think, there is someone more qualified than me for this position." Mari said in response to the Dean's question.

"Who would that be Ms. Makinami?" The Dean was curious as to who she might mean.

"Yui Ikari, sir." Mari glanced out the window to see Yui and Gendo conversing on the quad. "Why don't you recommend her instead?" She saw their conversation get very energetic, and Gendo leaned in to kiss Yui. "Her talents and achievements far outshine my own, by a considerable margin."

The Dean was unaware that Mari was looking out the window. "Ms. Ikari you say? You're right, she is quite intelligent."

Mari was still looking out the window to see Gendo depart and Yui waving as he did. "Yes, she's quite a special person."

"Unfortunately, that's not possible." The Dean replied. "She's been selected for government work for Japan. The state won't let her go."

"Oh well, can I think about it?" Mari responded, still staring vacantly out the window at Yui, who had begun to walk slowly toward the dorm.

"Of course, Ms. Makinami, you have a few weeks to sort it all out and make a final decision." The Dean smiled at Mari as she got up to leave.

"Thank you, Dean Kyoraku." Mari bowed. "I'll let you know of my decision in the next few weeks." Mari walked out the door, but there was a glimmer in her eyes, a glimmer only present when Yui was on her mind. Mari was replaying what she saw out the Dean's window in her mind. 'Why him, Yui, why him, why not me?'

* * *

July 19, 1998 – Kyoto University

As a treat before her dissertation, Fuyutsuki was going hiking with Yui. The grounds of the university went into the hills, and the biology and geology students went up there to work. But for those who enjoyed a bit of hiking or nature walking, it was the perfect place. Now being nice wasn't the only reason Fuyutsuki was bringing Yui on this hike today. It had been three weeks since Fuyutsuki had bailed Gendo out of jail, and he wanted a few private questions with Yui, without anyone to interrupt or overhear.

About halfway up the trail, after talking about trivial matters, the weather, and other small talk, Fuyutsuki finally got up the courage to talk to Yui about Gendo. He started off rather bluntly, I might add. "You told him about me?"

Yui was caught off guard, and was unsure what her sensei was talking about. "Huh?"

"You told Gendo Rokubungi about me? Why would you tell him about me?" Fuyutsuki didn't sound angry, but he wasn't happy either, it he sounded more irritated than anything else. "And why would he call me when he gets into trouble?"

Yui finally realized what he was talking about, having bailed Gendo out of jail. "I'm sorry, sensei." Yui was truly sorry. 'I hope I didn't offend sensei, I was just hoping they would become friends.' Yui took another moment to choose her words carefully. "Sensei, did it bother you that I told him about you, and asked him to use you as a reference?"

"No, it didn't, Yui." Fuyutsuki sighed, all the anger that he had held onto for the last few weeks disappeared when Yui had asked that, she had realized it had made him angry, but Fuyutsuki decided it would be for the best to let it go. However, he did have a few other questions to ask. "Yui, are you dating him? Gendo, I mean."

"Well, yes sensei, I am." Yui blushed a little while thinking about Gendo. "I've been dating him for a while now, and I really do like him." Yui blushed even harder at the thought of loving Gendo.

"Well, I'll concede that he is an out of the ordinary fellow. He's just not the kind of person I would associate myself with… under normal circumstances." Fuyutsuki said.

"Well, would it surprise you to know that I love him?" Yui asked.

This statement made Fuyutsuki stop in his tracks and spin around. "What?!" He was floored, if his jaw had not become so tense it sold have dropped to the ground out of shock

"I told him so the day he was arrested." Yui started, and she started looking at the ground, swaying slightly with her hands clasped together at her waist. "And after I told him, he kissed me, in front of everyone, right on the quad!" Yui looked up at Fuyutsuki. "I figured the reason he got beat up was because he kissed me and some people didn't like that because of how he acts. But he's not as bad of a person as everyone thinks, he's really quite kind and sweet, at least to me anyway." Yui sighed. "I was glad you got him out of jail, I just didn't realize you judged people based on rumor."

"Yui, I didn't mean it like that, I just don't trust him, it has nothing to do with the rumors, and it's just a gut feeling I have." Fuyutsuki said defensively. "I just don't see you spending the rest of your life with him, Yui." Fuyutsuki sighed heavily and placed a hand on Yui's shoulder. "I just don't understand what you see in him. Or why you would want to… "

Yui cut him off, and said in a kind and gentle voice. "Sensei, I know it's difficult to understand, but I think I can explain it." Yui looked right at Fuyutsuki with her kind eyes. "He hates being alone and so do I, and I find that quality in him quite endearing." Yui smiled. "Other people just don't understand him, or know all the horrible things that have happened to him in his life. If I had gone through those things, then… well, I can't be sure, but I certainly wouldn't like to be around people a lot, even if I hated being alone."

Fuyutsuki was completely unable to respond to what Yui had said. Instead of responding he merely nodded at her and smiled. They continued the rest of their hike in silence until they came back within view of the University. "Well, sensei I'm off to the lab, I have a dissertation presentation to prepare for." Yui said happily.

"Right, that's next week isn't it." Fuyutsuki had completely forgotten to ask Yui how that was going, but to be fair, he had been distracted by other things. "I'm sure whatever you prepare will be top of line work, as always."

"Thanks, sensei, I'll see you later." Yui said cheerfully.

Meanwhile near the Research Building, Gendo was going to see if Yui was in her lab, as she hadn't been at her room, however as he approached the stairs to the building, he saw a very attractive blonde come out. 'Kyoko?' Gendo thought, 'I forgot she went here.' He was surprised, he'd been on campus for a year, and hadn't run into Kyoko until now. Gendo, thinking that he should be polite started to walk toward her.

Kyoko turned towards her dorm when she spotted him. 'Gendo? What's he doing here? Is he looking for me? It's been almost three years since we last spoke.' Kyoko's mind wandered to their goodbye before she left for Kyoto from Osaka. 'I wonder what he's doing here.' Determined to find out Kyoko walked towards Gendo, and the two met up roughly in the middle of where they each started. "Hello, Gendo… " Kyoko spoke first, she still had a hint of surprise on her face, not thoroughly convinced it was Gendo.

"Hello, Kyoko, how have you been?" Gendo replied, smiling slightly. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

"Yes, it has Gendo. It's been a while." Kyoko leaned closer to him and whispered. "We should go somewhere else to talk, like the garden behind this building."

"Sure, if that would make you happy, Kyoko." Gendo replied.

Kyoko didn't remember Gendo being this open or happy looking when she left him those few years back. But then again, the last time she saw him, they were essentially breaking up. The two former lovers walked through the Research building to its garden in the back, where Kyoko and Gendo sat down on one of the benches to have a talk. However, unbeknownst to them, someone saw them walking towards the garden, and decided to follow them to eavesdrop on whatever they were going to talk about. That person was one Mari Makinami. 'That's odd, I wonder why those two are walking together.' Mari went towards the back stairwell overlooking the garden and listened through one of the open windows directly above the pair as they began to talk.

"Gendo, why on Earth did you come here?" Kyoko asked, quite forcefully. "Why didn't you finish your doctorate at another school?"

"Well, my previous doctoral program was shut down, and the government said I could pick any school to transfer to. I decided to pick this one for its nice scenery, and I won't lie to you, I picked it because you considered it a fantastic school to attend." Gendo smiled. "I'm surprised I didn't run into you sooner, but I did assume your research was done by now, and I wouldn't see you at all."

"Oh, Gendo, that's sweet, but did you really come here to find me?" Kyoko was stunned at his revelation that he needed someone around him, or the fact the fact that he was actually willing to admit that he liked someone.

"Well, originally, I was going to try and find you, because I still had feelings for you, but during the first few weeks of the term, I met someone who, I guess we've been… well… dating since we met. I switched lunches with her, and she pleaded with me to eat with her… " Gendo's voice trailed off into the memory of him meeting Yui for the first time. "I realized after a while that I loved her, and she told me not too long ago that she loved me." Gendo smiled at Kyoko. "I think I have you to thank for that, you always told me I would find someone and you were right. I think she may be the one."

Kyoko was stunned, if she wasn't so shocked she may have passed out. "Who is this girl? I wonder if I know her." Kyoko wanted to know who the girl was that captured the heart of Gendo Rokubungi.

"I'm not sure if you do, all she tells me about is her research, her brother, and her sensei." Gendo paused. "Her name is, Yui Ikari." This revelation actually did make Kyoko faint slightly, but before she could fall out off the bench, Gendo caught her. "Kyoko, are you ok?" Gendo sounded worried about his old friend.

"Yes, I'm… Yui Ikari?" Kyoko's mind was still scrambled from she had heard and combined her response to Gendo's question about her wellbeing with the question she wanted to ask to confirm the identity of the person Gendo was in love with. "Your girlfriend's name is Yui Ikari?"

"Yes, it is. Do you know her?" Gendo asked, his left eyebrow rose when asked the question.

"Oh, this is bad, not good, not good at all." Kyoko was flushed, and her heart was racing very fast, her former boyfriend, was with her best friend. 'Boyfriend? We never were officially together, what am I thinking?' Kyoko couldn't compose herself. "Gendo, you didn't tell her about… about us did you?" Kyoko sounded desperate, and pleaded with Gendo. "Please, you have to tell me!"

"Why would I have mentioned our relationship? It didn't seem relevant to what me and Yui like to discuss." Gendo was thoroughly confused as to why Kyoko was so worried. "I didn't know that you knew her, you must be one of the friends she lives next to right?"

"Yes, I do live next to her, but that's not the point, I have to tell her about us, otherwise if she finds out later, she might not be my friend anymore, and she may dislike you for not telling her." Kyoko sounded nearly hysterical at this point.

Gendo had trouble understanding what Kyoko meant. "I'm not sure what you mean, but if you wish to tell her about our former relationship, I will not stop you from doing so."

"But, Gendo the problem is, I loved you. I still love you!" Kyoko said, and she sounded hurt that he didn't realize this. "I didn't admit to myself at the time, but that's why I put off breaking up with you for so long, I couldn't do it, you were so nice to me, and the sex… was well, quite good. But I can't be in love with my best friend's boyfriend, that wrong, I have to tell her!" Kyoko had tears running down her face. "And I thought you loved me too, but I guess I was mistaken!" More tears ran down her face, making large wet spots on her lab coat, and staining it with running mascara from her eyes.

"I did love you, Kyoko, but I wasn't in the right place in my life to admit. But, by the time I realized I should have admitted it, it was too late to do anything about. I should have said something that night, but I was too afraid to." He reached out and hugged Kyoko. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, and I do still care about you Kyoko, I'm sure you'll find someone that will love you as much as Yui and I love each other."

"I'm sorry too, Gendo, I should have admitted how I felt about you that night too." She cried into Gendo's shoulder. "It's all my fault!"

"It's both of our faults, neither of us could admit we liked the other. So there is no need to apologize." Gendo leaned down and kissed her gently on the cheek. "Or to cry."

Kyoko kissed him back, on the lips, and then stopped suddenly. "I'm sorry, Gendo, I shouldn't have kissed you like that." Kyoko hated herself for kissing Yui's boyfriend. 'Yui's boyfriend, of all the people to fall in love, it had to be Gendo, one of the few men to truly like me. God, I'm disgusting.'

Gendo was blushing slightly. "Like I said, it's both our faults. I don't blame you for expressing your feelings for me."

"Ok, so it's both of our faults." Kyoko wiped the tears and running mascara from her face with the sleeve of her lab coat. "I need to go find Yui and tell her about what happened between us, otherwise I could lose my best friend." She stood up and ran inside the research building to the elevator, leaving Gendo alone in the garden.

Mari, having seen the whole exchange from above was shocked 'Kyoko and that Rokubungi guy? Had _sex_?' Mari thought it was confusing enough when she saw Yui and Gendo kissing, but now the unrequited love between both Kyoko and Gendo made it almost sickening to Mari. 'I feel like I have to vomit.' Mari left the building to go back to her dorm and sulk, she'd visit Yui and morning and tell her something important.

Meanwhile, Kyoko approached Yui's lab, and saw the light was on, she knocked on the door, but got no response, so she opened the door and went in any way to see Yui asleep at her desk. "Yui! Wake up!" Kyoko called startling the poor girl awake and making her fall on the floor.

Yui stood up rubbing her head. "Ow! Why did you sneak up on me like that?!"

"Oh, I'm sorry Yui, but I have to talk to you about something, it can't wait." Kyoko said. "I need to tell you something important, and I don't want you to hate me when I tell you."

For the second time today Yui was completely confused as to what the person she was talking to was talking about. "What are you talking about, Kyoko. Why are you being so confusing?" Yui sighed, her head hurt and she was tired of being confused by people today. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, your boyfriend… Gendo… " Kyoko started, but she was cut off.

"What!" Yui was shocked, it was another conversation about Gendo. "How do you know about him? I've kept it a secret from you and Mari, how did you find out?"

"Well, I saw him outside a while ago, and well… I know him from Osaka." Kyoko was having trouble with saying what she wanted to.

"Oh, were you classmates or something?" Yui was completely oblivious as to what Kyoko was talking about.

Kyoko knew she had to tell her, no matter how much it may hurt. "No, not that, we… we were in a… a relationship." Kyoko decided it was time to pull off the Band–Aid, hard. "A sexual relationship… for two years. We broke up the day before my meeting with the Doc."

"Huh?" Yui was still confused, and she was trying to comprehend what Kyoko was saying, and with the mild concussion she may have had from hitting her head on the ground, it was making her comprehension a little difficult at the moment. Yui rubbed her head. "You dated Gendo? That's not a big deal."

"What?" It was Kyoko's turn to be confused. "I thought you would be mad that we dated."

"I'm not, it doesn't matter." Yui smiled. "I'm not the jealous type." Yui thought for a moment. "But what brought this on? Did you talk to him or something?"

Kyoko looked down at her feet. "Well, yes, we talked in the garden for a while, and… and… we… I… I kissed him!" Kyoko started to cry again. "I'm so sorry Yui, I didn't mean to, but we talked and he kissed me on the cheek to make me feel better, and then, I just kissed him! I'm so sorry!" Kyoko broke down crying.

Yui stepped toward Kyoko and enveloped her in a big hug. "It's ok Kyoko, I guess you loved him but never told him, right?" Yui held Kyoko in the hug until she stopped crying.

"How did you know?" Kyoko asked, wiping her eyes with her sleeves.

"I was in the same position a few weeks ago, until I just got up the courage to tell him. I didn't wasn't to lose him. I can't blame you for loving him." Yui smiled. "Besides we're probably the only two people who love him, so it's not a bad thing."

"You know, Yui, you're probably the best friend someone could ask for." Kyoko said. "You're so understanding."

"I try to be anyway." Yui chuckled. "But you know how it is, sometimes you just can't help who you fall in love with."

"You've got that right, Yui." Mari said as she walked away from Yui's door, after having followed Kyoko up the labs. "You can't help who you fall in love with."

* * *

July 20, 1998 – Kyoto University

Mari woke up feeling terrible, everything she had learned about Yui, Kyoko, and Gendo had made her crazy. She sobbed quietly most of the night, and had heard Kyoko come back to her room, but not Yui. 'I bet she's with him.' Mari thought sullenly.

She decided to try and forget her troubles by going up to the roof. Mari got dressed in shorts and a t–shirt and took her school bag with her. 'I'll go to the lab once I'm relaxed enough to care.' It was a nice day out, so Marti decided to paint her nails outside. Mari liked being on the roof in recent months, it allowed her to get away from her feelings and just relax. No one could bother her up there, which was part of the reason why she liked it up there so much. Mari began painting her nails and letting them dry under the strong summer sun. 'It's so nice up here, away from everything… and everyone.' Mari sighed and laid down under the sun and fell asleep. A little while later she woke up, feeling all warm from the sun. She checked her nails to find that they were dry. "I guess I need to go to the lab now." Mari said to no one in particular. Mari got up and stretched, picked up her bag and headed downstairs.

When she arrived at the Research Building she walked past Yui's lab and saw the light was still on. Mari pushed the door open quietly and saw Yui sleeping on her desk, drooling slightly onto the open book on her desk. She had taken her glasses off and apparently fell asleep while getting ready for dissertation. Mari walked over to her and brushed the hair out of Yui's face 'Look at that goofy face, I… I hate her.' Mari grabbed something off Yui's desk and put it into her bag before Kyoko walked in.

"Oh, you're in here." Kyoko said, looking questioningly at Mari. "I just came from Dean Kyoraku's office, he's looking for you."

"Oh, he is? Thanks for letting me know." Mari said as she walked out the door.

Kyoko looked over at Yui and then at the retreating figure of Mari and shook her head.

Yui woke up and shook her head. "Oh, hi Kyoko how are you?"

"I'm fine, did you sleep well?" Kyoko winked at her and smiled, but then the worried look came back to her face. "I just wonder what's up with Mari lately, she's been cold and distant with us for a while now."

"Hmm…" Yui said while looking for her glasses. "Oh, yeah, you're right, she has been pretty odd lately, since shortly after I started dating Gendo. It's weird, I guess."

"Well, she can be kinda odd sometimes, remember what happened at Christmas?" Kyoko said, stirring memories in both of the about Mari crying her eyes out about not being good enough.

"I hope she's alright. I'll find her later and talk to her, to make sure she is." Yui smiled and got up. "It's probably just her research again."

"It's not like we'd know, she hasn't said much lately." Kyoko responded, crossing her arms. "But enough about miss moody, I have some news."

"Oh, what is it?" Yui asked.

"Well after my dissertation at the end of the month, I'll be going to Germany for that research assignment I was offered. I decided after yesterday that it's for the best." Kyoko replied proudly.

"Kyoko, you don't have to leave because you love Gendo, that's just silly." Yui said.

"I have to, I don't think I could trust myself around him, and I don't want to ruin your relationship Yui. I don't want to lose you as a friend either." Kyoko chuckled. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine, it'll be a new beginning, and change is a good thing."

"I'm sure you're right, but I'll miss you nonetheless." Yui walked over to her friend and hugged her.

"Will you get off? I'm not leaving till next month, and we can hang out till then. Besides I have some stuff to in my lab, so I'll see you later." Kyoko said. "We'll meet in the garden like always."

"See ya, Kyoko." Yui said sadly.

After Kyoko left, Yui started cleaning her lab. She tidied up the stacks of paper she had laying around. She cleaned her desk off, and she also picked up her lab table of all the small lengths of wire and other unused components for her A.T. Field scanner. When she was done cleaning (which took a while because Yui was quite a messy person), she went outside to see both Mari and Kyoko sitting in the garden. Yui went over to the vending machine next the bench they were sitting on and went to get a drink. Without her glasses, small print was hard to see, but Yui was the brave type and inserted her coin, and pressed the button without thinking, and received Tomato Juice. "Oh no, I wanted orange juice."

"What's wrong, did you lose your glasses?" Kyoko asked, as she leaned back on the bench and looked over at Yui.

"Of course I did, otherwise, I'd have gotten orange juice instead of this." Yui opened the can anyway. "I paid for it though, so I'm drinking it." She held her nose and gulped the tomato juice down. "Have either of you seen my glasses?"

"Nope, sorry." Was all Kyoko had to say.

Mari on the other hand didn't have such a succinct answer. "How should I know? You should just get contacts like me. You're too pretty for contacts."

Yui blushed, but her eventual response was interrupted by Kyoko. "Well, anyway, glasses or not, we have to talk about Gendo again."

"Ugh, do we have to?" Yui said. "I talked about him enough yesterday between you and sensei."

"Gendo?" Mari hadn't heard either of them talk about this in front of her before. But Mari played dumb. "Who's Gendo?"

"Only the best guy ever." Yui said, her face started to glow, and Mari began to regret her decision to play dumb. "He's the sweetest, nicest guy I know." Then it hit Yui. "Oh, I haven't told you about him yet Mari, and Kyoko, I never told you how we met." Yui recounted the story of how she met Gendo in the cafeteria, and how he got the last lunch she wanted, and traded with her, and blah, blah, blah.

When Yui finished, Mari looked annoyed and sad and mumbled to herself. "Disgusting…" She got up suddenly and grabbed her bag. "I think I would have been better off not hearing that story at all. I'll see you guys later, I have some work to do."

Yui looked heartbroken. "Wow, what is up with her?" Yui sat down on the bench next to Kyoko and looked over to her friend. "Did I do something wrong?"

"Like I said earlier, whatever her problem is, she's not talking, so how will we know what's wrong." Kyoko said, putting her arm around her friend to comfort her. "Just talk to her later like you said and everything will be fine."

Meanwhile, Mari was walking back to her room, trying to hold in her tears until she got back. However as she got close to the dorm, she passed Gendo on the sidewalk, after the passed by each other without a word, Mari looked even more depressed then before, and tears started rolling down her cheek. 'Why him, Yui, why him?'

Mari made it to her room and stated to cry. She was so mad at Gendo for taking away her Yui. 'What gives that bastard the right to take Yui away from me. I love her more than he ever could!' Mari screamed in her mind 'I should have told her how I felt before, and not waited until now. I should have said something at Christmas.' Mari continued to cry until something crossed her mind. 'Oh, shit, I didn't turn in my dissertation essay!' Mari got off her bed and wiped her eyes off, and scrambled to get her stuff.

She ran out of the dorm and raced to the Research Building and ran up to Fuyutsuki's office. 'I've been so distracted lately, I completely forgot to hand this in. I need to pull myself together.' She hummed to herself on the run over to the Research Building.

**♪What is love?**   
**Baby don't hurt me**   
**Don't hurt me**   
**No more♪**

She knocked on the door. "Professor Fuyutsuki, are you in there?" The only response she got was a loud crash from inside the room. Mari flung open the door to see Yui on the ground with a mess of cages and an upturned chair around her. "What the hell is going on, Yui?!"

"Well, I standing on the chair and was trying to reach a stack of paper on top of the shelves, the chair moved a bit, and I fell…" Yui moved to a kneeling position with a mouse on her head. "I took out the cages when I fell, and all the mice escaped."

"Wonderful!" Mari said loudly, rolling up her sleeves. "Well, get a move on Yui, we have to catch them!" Yui handed moved yet, and was only string at Mari. "Let's go, Yui!"

Chaos ensued while the girls tried catching all the mice. There were 12 in all, and between the two of them it was a tough job. Mari had caught 7 mice relatively easily, but kept admonishing Yui for failing to catch any mice at all. "God, Yui, you're so clumsy, try a bit harder."

Every time Yui dove to capture a mouse, it dodged her attempt, and Yui skidded on the floor. "I know, Mari, I'm trying."

Yui finally got a hold of one mouse while Mari had gotten 10. The final mouse was somewhere, and Yui spotted it, on Mari's head. Mari noticed it there too and had frozen in place. "Mari don't move." Yui said quietly.

"Wha… " Mari said as Yui dove at her and tackled her to the ground, catching the mouse in the process. "Are you stupid Yui?! I could've gotten hurt!" Mari yelled.

Yui ignored her, mostly because she was distracted by having captured another mouse. "I got him!" she said joyfully. Yui got up and transferred the last mouse to the cage. "I'm glad we got them all."

Mari meanwhile was nursing the back of her head, which had impacted the floor quite hard. "Oww, my head…" Mari's hair was covering her face, she moved some of it away to find that her vision was blurry, and she thought she had a concussion, but instead realized something else. "Crap, my contact fell out. Thanks a lot Yui!"

Yui turned around to face Mari. "Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you." Yui walked over and reached her hand out to push some stray strands of hair out of Mari's face. "You're hair's a mess, let me help."

The unexpected touch from Yui made Mari jump, and the bumped the desk she had haphazardly placed her bag on a few minutes before, knocking it to the ground, with it spilling its contents on the ground. Yui saw something familiar in the spilled contents, a pink set of glasses, and she reached down and picked them up. "Are those my glasses? Why did you have them, Mari? I've been looking everywhere for them."

Mari looked like she was going to cry. She had been caught with Yui's glasses, and to be honest, Mari only took them out of convenience, and for nothing else. At least nothing she wanted to admit anyway. But if the previous day's overheard conversations had taught her anything, waiting to tell someone something only led to further pain and suffering. So, Mari sucked it up and spoke. "I hate you, Yui."

Yui dropped her glasses when Mari spoke, but she said noting and let Mari continue.

"You're so beautiful, and cute, you have the most brilliant mind I've ever seen, and you're always kind to others, no matter how they treat you." Mari closed her eyes to keep the tears from rolling down her face. "You're everything that I'm not, and I hate that you act that way, even after you realize how I feel. You must have put it together at Christmas, right? The way we woke up with me cuddling you like that? You can't be that dense Yui, not if you can get someone like Rokubungi to admit he likes you."

Yui looked at her in silence, trying to comprehend what Mari was saying. Thankfully, for Yui, who had been confused by almost every conversation she had with someone within the last 24 hours, Mari spelled it out for her in no uncertain terms.

Mari, despite her best efforts, had tears rolling down her cheeks, her eyes looked quite sullen, and the light from within them had faded. "Yui, you understand what I'm saying right?" Mari's head drooped so that her bangs were now obscuring her eyes from view. "Don't you realize that I… that I love you?"

Yui had no way to respond to what Mari had said. She was surprised by the admission Mari had made, and the turnaround from so called 'hate' to 'love.' Yui, in an attempt to make Mari feel better, without outright denying her affection told Mari this. "Why don't you sit down, and let me fix your hair."

Mari silently obliged, and, Yui, ever prepared, pulled her own comb and hair ties out of her bag and set to work on Mari's now messy hair. "Yui, I'm sorry I said I hated you. I was just angry that you never seemed to realize that I liked you."

"Well, to be fair, the cuddling was kinda nice, but I just thought that you were cold, and your hand ended up… were it did accidently." Yui said as she combed out Mari's long hair.

"It wasn't really an accident, my hand ended up on your chest, and when I saw it was there, I just didn't move it." Mari said shyly.

"So, why did you decide to tell me you liked me?" Yui asked.

"Well, because I'm going to London at the end of the month to continue my research there, and I didn't want to leave without telling you how I felt." Mari said sheepishly.

"I see…" Yui responded as she was smoothing out Mari's hair and putting the hair ties in. "Those glasses, you can keep them if you like, as a reminder of our friendship." Yui picked up the glasses and slid them onto Mari's face. "I'm sure they're not your prescription though." Yui giggled after putting the glasses on Mari and looking at her. "There we go. Don't you look cute." Yui smiled at Mari and then grabbed a small mirror to show Mari her new look.

"Stop it, Yui…" Mari said, blushing heavily after seeing herself in the mirror, with her glasses and her new twin pigtails she looked like a young, innocent high school student.

"You look good Mari, like a young girl." Yui smiled, still holding the mirror up for Mari.

"Well, I am sixteen, shouldn't I look like a young girl?" Mari put her head down and closed her eyes, she wanted to say something to Yui, but it was hard to say. "Yui, just so you know, I'll be wishing you and Gendo the best, from a… faraway place." This made Mari smile.

"Yeah?" Still looking at the top of Mari's head, Yui smiled back at her. "I know how hard it is to say that, and I'll always remember you Mari. I'll never let go of our friendship, no matter what. Thank you, Mari Makinami for being a great friend."

To Be Continued

* * *

A/N: I do not own Evangelion or any of the characters, GAINAX and the other distributors of NGE related material do. I am simply using them as a backdrop for my fanfic.

As for the songs used in this chapter, I don't own them either, and they're listed below in order of appearance:  
Survivor – _Eye of the Tiger_ (1982)  
Haddaway – _What is Love_ (1993)

No as to the length of the chapter, I surprised myself, and the reason I didn't break this up was that I couldn't, otherwise it would seem kinda disjointed. Now obviously the theme of this chapter being the penultimate one for this episode had to introduce and wrap up a few things. SEELE has been making semi regular appearances, but that was their last one for this episode. Anything else they may aw will give away plot lines for the next two episodes or so (goddamn Dead Sea Scrolls, and their stupid apocrypha).

Anyway, the love quadrangle took shape, and will be shaping the events of the rest of the story, whether it will be explicitly or implicitly shaping events is still up for consideration. Now, the senses from the Anime and Manga will be left relatively unchanged now and in the future, other than some plot changes, and other twists, a bunch of dialogue may sound eerily similar, but I was taught, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and really hope you enjoy the next one as well. I also hope you will forgive me for using dates, however, I am trying to set up a cohesive timeline, and the dates help set stuff up that I can keep track of in my head.

As I said before, and will always say at the end of chapter, please leave comments, as I would like to try to improve the story going forward any way I can. And, hell, constructive criticism is a good thing.

* * *

つづく


	10. Project Alcion

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Legacy  
Episode I: The Phantom Menace

* * *

Chapter 10 – Project Alcion  
September 9, 1998 – Gehirn, Japan, Artificial Research Laboratory

Well, it was official, Yui had her doctorate. After a fairly interesting dissertation, where Yui go too nervous and knocked over the projector she was using after tripping on its cord, she had to improvise and explain her theories without visual aid. Something that impressed the doctoral review board so much, they gave her a glowing recommendation.

Shortly after that, Yui and her two closest friends were separated from each other by vast distances, with Kyoko going to Germany, and Mari to England. The three had a heartfelt goodbye, with Kyoko crying like a child telling Yui they should meet up sometime, and Mari, well, Mari and Yui had a private goodbye beforehand so that Mari's love for Yui would be kept a secret.

Yui and Mari met up before going to the airport with Kyoko. "Mari, I'll miss you." Yui leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. "I want you to be careful while you're away, okay?" Yui blushed at what she had done, but didn't see a problem with it.

"Yui, what made you do that?" Mari blushed, she was unsure of what to do, but had the feeling she should at least try and reciprocate. But as Mari leaned in to kiss Yui back on the cheek, she tripped and ended up on top of Yui, kissing her full on the lips. After a few seconds Mari took her lips away from Yui's. "Sorry… I didn't mean to kiss you like that."

Mari blushed a deep crimson.

Yui was oddly enough the same color. "It's ok, it was a nice kiss." The two girls laughed and only hugged each other when Mari got on her plane to leave. Once the two of them were gone, Yui only had Gendo left for company. But he was busy preparing for his own dissertation that they really didn't see much of each other. Her brother was off doing something for the military, and his last letter said he'd been promoted again, this time to Lieutenant Colonel. So, all Yui had to look forward to at the moment was moving to the Artificial Evolution Laboratory.

I had been several weeks since Yui started at the Artificial Evolution Laboratory. After a disastrous first day, in which she knocked over what appeared to be everything in her lab, she interrupted her neighbor, a very surely woman named Naoko Akagi who had yelled at her for making too much noise. Thankfully the woman had begun to warm up to her over the past few days. Yui attributed this to her less exhausted looks, and likely successful research. 'She reminds a bit of Mari, if she had gone crazy, and got really old.' Yui thought.

Yui's research on the other hand was going quite well. She had proved the existence of the A.T. Field, and was currently working on a way to classify the strength of an A.T. Field. Her first official government assignment would to see if the A.T. Field could be used to protect military hardware with a single human pilot. Yui was not particularly thrilled to be weaponizing her discovery, but realized it was inevitable, and that she at least still had control of her research. So, Yui did as she was told and worked.

On this particular day, as Yui was working, she heard a noise from the lab next to her 'Hmm, I wonder what's up with Dr. Cranky, it's not like I'm being loud.' Yui walked outside her lab to go ask what the commotion was, but she didn't have to ask directly about it, as she overheard one side of a phone call with Naoko shouting like a banshee:

"I don't care what she thinks mother, she's a damn child!"

"Of course she has rights, but they're my rules!"

"I understand that, mother, but she's my daughter not yours!"

"I will speak to you how I like."

"No, you don't get to redeem yourself and the mistakes you made on me!"

After overhearing the exchange, Yui crept quietly back to her lab and shut the door. 'Wow, she's as mean as I thought she was. I would never talk to my mom that way. And she has a daughter? I feel sorry for that girl, but you can't choose our family I guess.' Yui tried to put the argument she overheard out of her head to continue work, but that was folded minutes later by a knock on her door. "Who is it?" Yui called out.

"It's Gendo, may I come in?" She heard a gravelly voice say.

Yui's face brightened up. "Of course, why are even asking?" Yui said as she saw the door open. Gendo walked in the room and closed it behind him.

"So, Gendo, how did you get in here? No one called me to give you access to my lab." Yui asked.

"Well, that's why I'm here Yui. I have some good news." Gendo said coyly.

Yui stood there, wondering what Gendo was going say. 'Well, he has that smile on his face, so he should have some interesting news.' Yui waited for moment before asking. "Is the dramatic pause for effect or are you just going to keep me waiting?"

"Well, seeing as you're _impatient_ today." Gendo said this quite sarcastically. "I have completed my dissertation, and have gotten a job offer."

"Oh, that's wonderful! I totally forgot that was today." Yui was beyond happy, but also felt guilty for forgetting today had been Gendo's big day. But seeing as he had completed the dissertation without a problem. 'No harm done.' she thought. And now, Gendo was going to be working somewhere doing research. 'But how did he get in… oh!' Yui put together what job offer he had, and had clearly accepted. "You accepted a job offer here, didn't you?"

"Well, of course, Yui, I knew you would figure it out without having to be told. That's one of the reasons I love you, you're smart and intuitive." He walked over to Yui and put his arms around her. "I'm going to be glad that I can come see you when I'm not busy."

"So am I." Yui had a mischievous grin on her face. "And if we're both not busy, then maybe we could _get_ busy." Gendo blushed while Yui laughed at his embarrassment. The mere mention of sex with Yui made Gendo embarrassed. "What's wrong, am I not blonde enough for you, Mr. Ikari?"

"What do you mean, Yui… it has nothing to do with her… I mean that… I think you're just a beautiful as her… I like your hair color… we just have other things to base our relationship off of than just… well… I mean… that… " Gendo was extremely flustered, and that only happened with Yui. Whenever Yui made mention of his prior relationship with Kyoko, even though she said it didn't bother her, Gendo had the sneaking suspicion she was bothered a little bit by it. And it's not like they hadn't had sex, it maybe wasn't enough to keep Yui satisfied. 'I'll have to rectify that later.' He thought. 'Perhaps a nice dinner for just the two of us, and then afterword… ' His thoughts trailed off, and he blushed just thinking about him and Yui having sex.

"Well, I can see you're blushing, so I guess I did my job." Yui winked at him. "Don't be mad, I was only teasing. I wanted to see what your reaction to that would be. Call it an experiment if you want." Yui snickered.

Gendo, desperate to change the subject decided to capitalize on Yui mentioning Kyoko. "Speaking of your friends, have you heard from either of them recently?" He asked, hoping the distraction would make her forget about the current subject. "Or your brother for that matter?"

"Gendo, I know what you're trying to do, to see if Kyoko still pines after you." Yui said in a singsong voice. Gendo frowned openly, and blushed once again, becoming almost beet red. "Oh, relax, I'm only joking." Yui's smile turned into a frown, and her brow scrunched up. "The only news I've gotten was that they both landed safely and are enjoying their new jobs. Mari called yesterday, she has some live test experiment she'll be conducting in a few weeks, Kyoko's been silent since the first call I got a few weeks ago. And Shinji, well, I haven't heard anything other than he's been promoted to Colonel or something. All I know for sure is whatever he's doing is classified." Yui sat on her desk and knocked her phone off the hook without noticing.

"Well, with the military, that's to be expected. Everything they do is classified, just because they can." Gendo realized what he said was not improving the mood, on a happier note he decided to add. "Well, I'm sure whatever he's doing, your brother is perfectly safe."

"I'm sure he is, but can we not talk about him, or Kyoko, or even Mari? I just want to spend some time with you. We've barely seen each other in the past month." Yui said cutely.

Gendo, recognizing the tone in her voice, realized she was quite sad. He leaned down and wrapped his arms around her slender body, and kissed her. Yui responded in kind, wrapping her arms around him and enjoying the ignorant bliss the kiss offered, until they were rudely interrupted.

"Ahem!" Naoko Akagi stood in Yui's doorway, and cleared her throat loudly. "Why are you two making all this noise? Don't you realize that _some_ of us are trying to work here?" She was clearly pissed off, but Gendo didn't like when people yelled at Yui, and he stepped up to defend her.

"Why are you yelling?" Gendo said in a very calm voice. "Is there truly any need for that? Plus, how did you hear us? We weren't talking very loudly, and the door was closed. If I were a suspicious person, I would say you were eavesdropping on us."

"Well, for your information, I was, but not by choice." she started, pointing her finger towards the desk. "But because someone carelessly dialed my office and left the phone off the hook."

Gendo was speechless, his argument had evaporated, but he was still angry. On the other hand, Yui was confused, until she saw the phone, and promptly hung it up, wanting to avoid further conflict with her already irritated neighbor. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize that it was off the hook, I'll be more careful in the future."

"You better be." Naoko said accusingly. "And while we're talking, why are there unauthorized personnel in your lab? Who is this guy?"

"Oh, he's my boyfriend." Yui turned to Gendo and grabbed his hand. "Gendo Rokubungi, this is Dr. Naoko Akagi, Computer Bioscience."

"Nice to meet you." Gendo said, still calm, but while staring at Naoko so intently that he might bore holes through her with his eyes.

'She's much too young for him, he needs a real woman to satisfy him.' Naoko thought, looking at him, she thought he was quite handsome. "It's nice to meet you Mr. Rokubungi."

"And he's not unauthorized, he just started here today, and came down to surprise me." Yui smiled. "And again, I'm sorry for disturbing you."

"It's quite alright, just don't let it happen again." Naoko said, but as she said this she thought about how she would be able to see Gendo more 'I can't wait until I run into you again, Mr. Rokubungi.'

* * *

September 12, 1998 – Gehirn, Germany Branch

Kyoko was walking along inside the German Branch of Gehirn. 'God this peace is like a maze. It's set up so no one can find a damn thing.' She thought to herself. Even after two weeks, she didn't have a clue where her lab was. It was on a sublevel in an isolated corner, but the hallways weren't straight, and the level naming system wasn't quite consistent, so it nearly impossible for all those but who designed and built the place to find their way around easily. People Kyoko had met, even those who had been there since the mid–80s found the place to still be cumbersome to navigate. 'Geez, whoever designed this place should be shot.' She laughed, and after another few tense minutes, she finally found her lab.

Kyoko walked into her lab and went over to the isolation window. She looked in to see how her experiment was doing. After the refinements to her invention, it had been successful in creating a shell of a lab mouse. The key to this success was creating LCL, which Kyoko called Life Creation Liquid. It was a mildly opaque orange liquid that was similar in makeup to the primordial soup. Kyoko had overheard several scientists call LCL, Tang for its resemblance to the Orange flavored space drink. Kyoko didn't mind the nickname, she actually found it cute. 'Well, I guess the nickname is true, it does actually look like Tang.'

Kyoko's current experiment was working on growing a larger creature, a pig. Living tests were a few years off, Kyoko would probably start making an elephant shell, or some other large animal. Kyoko looked at her experiment submerged in LCL, it was slowly growing from the nose back, and currently all that was floating in the tank was a partial pig head. The eyes and lower jaw were missing, and only the right ear was partially generated. It will probably be another few weeks before it actually looks like a pig.' Kyoko sighed to herself 'Well, it takes time I guess. Maybe I just need to increase the amount of power being fed into the electron agitator and light this piggy up.' She smiled at the disembodied pig head, knowing that her hard work would mean something, someday.

Kyoko walked over to her desk to sit down, and go over the data from her experiment. However, her lack of sleep the past few nights had made her quite tired. So instead of actually doing any work, Kyoko fell asleep in her chair.

Before Kyoko fell asleep, she thought about her last conversation with Mari on the plane ride from several weeks earlier. "So, Mari, why were you all smiles?" Kyoko grinned. "You know, when we left Yui, why were you smiling so much?"

Mari was used to Kyoko's bluntness when asking a question, but she was completely taken off guard by Kyoko having noticed her very chipper mood 'Of course, she has to pay attention to the one thing I don't want to talk about.' Mari tried to keep a poker face when she spoke. "What are you talking about, Kyoko?"

"The fact that even though we're leaving Japan, you had a big smile on your face, what's up with that?" Kyoko sighed. "It just seemed weird, considering you have a tendency to cry."

"I was just excited about the plane ride, and it's not like we'll never see each other again." Mari said.

"Well that may be the case, but what was up with you two? And why do you have Yui's glasses, I thought you liked contacts more?" Kyoko asked.

Mari was shocked that Kyoko had noticed all this, but kept up her poker face. 'I really don't give her enough credit, she is quite observant when she wants to be.' Mari sighed. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh, please, Mari, we have another 13 hours on this plane, I think I can get whatever information out of you that I want." Kyoko said.

Mari sighed, but realized that it was easier to tell Kyoko what she wanted rather than be tortured until Kyoko disembarked in Berlin. "Fine, I'll tell you, but you can't tell anyone this." Mari was now glaring at Kyoko, in such a manner as to suggest death for repeating anything Mari was going to say. Mari decided for the blunt approach. "I love Yui."

Kyoko almost fell over. "Say that again, I don't think I heard you right. Did you say you love Yui?"

"Yes…" The glaring from Mari had subsided, and been replaced with a very pensive look, Mari's eyes seemed to shine as she thought about Yui. "I said that I love Yui."

Kyoko was speechless, she hadn't been expecting anything like that, or even in the ballpark of that. Mari went on to explain, with Kyoko staying in stunned silence the whole time about how she had felt jealous of Yui, mad that she had a boyfriend, the eavesdropping, and finally about confronting Yui and finally telling her how she felt. Mari even mentioned the incident with Yui before leaving for the airport. Kyoko was in utter disbelief, even after Mari finished her story, Kyoko couldn't even formulate a response. All she could say was. "Wow." Kyoko sat in silence the rest of the plane ride, and Mari felt embarrassed for having told the entire story.

When the plane finally landed in Berlin, Kyoko got up and was finally able to give an intelligible response to what Mai had told her. "So it looks like we're both running away from those we love, doesn't it."

"It looks like we are. But it's not like these are good opportunities for us." Mari replied

"I know, but it would have been too hard to stay and watch them be in love, knowing that the two of us love the two of them." Kyoko explained. "I like awkward, but not on that level."

"Well, it's better this way, isn't it?" Mari said quite plainly.

"It is, but seeing as they want those of us bound for Berlin of the plane, I guess it's time to part ways." Kyoko hugged the young girl. "So all I have to say is this, Auf Wiedersehen Mari."

Mari hugged her back, and held her tightly for a few moments. "Sayonara Kyoko."

As Kyoko walked away she said one last thing. "I also love the new hair–do. You should send Yui a thank you for that."

Back in the present, the still exhausted Kyoko continued to process what she learned on the plane ride 'It's kind of funny, I love Gendo, Mari loves Yui, and those two love each other.' She sighed before drifting off to sleep. "Well, like Mari said, it's all for the best, all of us going our separate ways. It would be too hard for me to see Gendo and Yui together, just like it would be too hard for Mari."

After several hours of wonderful dreams, and one of Mari and Yui in a very interesting situation in the bath together (which freaked Kyoko out), Kyoko was rudely awoken by a visitor, some paper pusher from the admin offices. "Ms. Soryu!?" Was all she heard before jolting awake.

Kyoko was not happy that she had been woken from her nap. "Who the hell are you?!" She yelled. "Baka, you can't sneak up on people like that! What's your problem?!"

"Ms. Soryu, I'm here for your scheduled administrative review and orientation. You've been contacted several times, and seem to have missed every single attempt to contact you." He said calmly. "I even called you a few minutes ago to see if you were available in your lab, I know you were on premises from your ID card having been swiped almost five hours ago, and no record of your exit. With no answer, I simply decided to come down and see if you were here myself."

Kyoko, still struggling to wake up fully, was having trouble understanding the man's rambling. "You lost me after 'Ms. Soryu' pal." Kyoko rubbed her eyes. "And you still haven't answered my question, _who are you_?"

"Well, you are as sarcastic as your file states you are." He smiled wryly. "And for your information, I am the Deputy Director of Scientific Personnel, Oscar Langley."

"I'd say it's a pleasure to meet you, but it's not." Kyoko said, glaring at the man.

"I don't understand why you're being so hostile." Oscar said, eyeing her cautiously.

"Try having your nap interrupted, and see how you like, dummkopf." Kyoko spat.

"Sprichst du Deutsch?" Oscar asked politely.

"Nein, ich nenne nur Menschen Namen in anderen Sprachen für Spaß!" Kyoko said. "Verdammtes Arschloch!"

"There's really no need for such foul language, Ms. Soryu." Oscar said, clearly appalled at what she had called him.

"I refer you to my earlier statement of having my nap interrupted." Kyoko said, and then she realized something important. "Hold on, I had my orientation training when I arrived. So why would I need to go through it again?" Kyoko glared at the admin. "So, what reason would bring you down here?"

Oscar became slightly flushed, and didn't know how to continue. "I… well… you see… the thing is… " he stammered.

"Well spit it out!" Kyoko growled at him, which made Oscar all the more nervous. "Why did you come down here and bother me?!"

"Well… um… I… uh… ya see… " Oscar could not put together a coherent sentence to answer Kyoko's question, which only made her angrier.

Kyoko calmed herself down by taking a deep breath. "Ok, look, calm down." Kyoko sighed heavily, seeing that she had made the young admin a blubbering fool. "I'm not mad, just irritated. Now please, tell me why you came down here, and I won't yell at you again." Kyoko smiled. "Or be forced to beat the crap out of you."

Oscar started to relax after she said that and found his voice once again. "Well, Ms. Soryu I wanted to come down here and introduce myself. I didn't have a specific reason to come down here, so I made one up." He looked quite regretful of his decision. "I apologize for any confusion or stress I caused you. I'll be leaving."

"Hold on a second." Kyoko, having had experience with people who hid their reasons for doing shit grabbed his shoulder as he was walking away. "That's not the whole reason is it? I'm a genius you know." Kyoko smirked. "It's hard to lie to me and get away with it."

"Well… um… I just really wanted to meet you. We don't have many scientists here, let alone anyone as smart as you. I thought it would be nice to meet you." Oscar stuttered.

Kyoko looked at what he was holding and saw her picture paper clipped to the front. "Is that my file?" she asked.

"Yes, I had it with me to make my story look more convincing." Oscar said quietly.

"Did you come down here to see if I was as pretty as the picture?" Kyoko sighed again, hoping the answer to her question wouldn't make her angry.

"Partly, Ms. Soryu." Oscar started. "But I'm more interested in how smart you were. I don't pretend to be a genius, I'm smart, but nowhere near your level. I thought if I met you and we became friends that it would be nice to know someone like you, smart and beautiful." He blushed again. 'Oh my god! I called her beautiful I hope she didn't notice!' He thought as he looked down. "I hope that doesn't sound too creepy."

Kyoko was flattered, a guy who wanted to meet her for her intellect, and who thought she was pretty. 'Hmm, I guess he's a nice guy after all.' Kyoko thought. 'And I wanted to beat the shit out of him for waking me up, aren't I an asshole.' Kyoko smiled 'I didn't think guys liked smart girls, well, besides Gendo, but he's the exception to every rule.' Kyoko chuckled loudly. "Well, it does sound a little creepy." Kyoko said jokingly. "But I'll forgive you as long as pay for dinner. Plus, I could use a friend seeing as I'm new here."

"Wha… ?" Oscar was, to say the least, utterly confused.

"You're taking me to dinner, dummy." Kyoko said. "Then I will forgive you for waking me up. And you'll get a chance to become my friend."

"Oh, yes that would be wonderful!" Oscar sounded delighted.

"Good, so you know anywhere good to eat? Maybe some of Berlin's finest cuisine?" Kyoko asked.

"Uh… yeah, I know a place, it's not too far from the lab." Oscar replied, he sounded very excited, almost too excited.

"Great!" Kyoko said. "Lead the way."

"Wha… Now?" Oscar said, looking dumbfounded again.

"Yes, now. I'm hungry." She wrapped her arm around his neck and led him to the lab door. "I hope it's not an imposition, going so soon." Kyoko said in a false sweet voice.

"No, now is good." Oscar said. "I'll be happy to take you out."

"Good, let's go!" Kyoko said. 'Well, what the harm in asking him on a date? He didn't seem like the type to take the initiative. But its ok, he's nice enough, and not bad looking either, maybe I'll surprise him with a kiss later.' Kyoko thought as she smiled and followed Oscar through the complex. 'I guess sometimes, the universe just throws you a bone.'

* * *

September 14, 1998 – Gehirn, UK Branch, Project Alcion hangar

Mari sat alone in the locker room. She shivered on the bench, the locker room was quite cold, and it didn't help that Mari was sitting there nude. She had taken off her clothes and stored them in a locker before staring intently at the weird spandex plastic Lycra looking suit they gave her to wear for the experiment. 'What did they call this thing? A plugsuit? That sounds about right. Well, whatever it's called, it looks really uncomfortable.' Mari thought. 'I hope it doesn't squeeze my chest too much.'

Mari then just sat there pondering everything that had happened since her arrival. After a very interesting farewell kiss with Yui and an even more interesting chat on the plane with Kyoko things had not gone how Mari had hoped. Since arriving several weeks ago in London, Mari had been alone. Sure, at her lab she was surrounded by people, but no one was very friendly towards her. She was their lackey, doing calculations for their experiments, and now, she was about to be a Guinea Pig for her own theory of soul transference. She was utterly alone, and without friends. Other than sending letters (which were read before being approved for sending) she had no access to the outside world.

'I hate being alone.' Mari thought. 'It just leaves me with all the bad memories.'

At thinking that, Mari mind ran through every bad thing that had happened in her life, the car crash, fining out her parents were dead, kids teasing her for being too smart, her aunt dying, being alone at college having no friends, being pranked by boys just to see her be humiliated, her research stalling, Yui having a boyfriend. Thinking about all these horrible things made her break down and cry, like she'd been doing for the past several weeks.

After what seemed like half an hour, she stopped crying and thought of something else. 'I just need to remember when I told Yui the truth. That was the happiest moment of my life, and nothing that happens can take that away from me.' Mari wiped her eyes and took the plugsuit out of its packaging and started to put it on. 'This thing feels really weird.' Mari finished putting the plugsuit on, moving her hair out of the way of the LS Pack. 'Why the hell is it all baggy, shouldn't it fit better than this?' Mari saw the instructions she was handed, but she hadn't read them thoroughly. 'Oh, press the button on the right wrist to ready the suit for use.' She pressed the button, and heard the air hiss out from the suit as it conformed around her every curve. "Well that worked!" Mari sad aloud, but she was also frowning and looking down at her chest. "But now my boobs are all squished…"

Mari sat back down after getting into the plugsuit. She was trying to adjust to its uncomfortable felling pressing against her skin. "It's like a second skin." Mari looked up and saw herself in the mirror on the other side, and her eyes widened in shock. "What pervert came up with this? I hope people won't see me wearing this." Mari sighed deeply, and stood up. "Well, I better get out there before someone comes looking for me."

Mari walked out of the locker room towards the main hangar. She hummed to herself as she walked through the maze of corridors to get to the hangar.

**♪We're leaving together,**   
**But still it's farewell.**   
**And maybe we'll come back**   
**To earth, who can tell?**   
**I guess there is no one to blame**   
**We're leaving ground (leaving ground)**   
**Will things ever be the same again?**

**It's the final countdown.**   
**The final countdown♪**

As she entered the enormous room, she looked around. Oddly enough before the experiment, Mari hadn't been allowed to look around at all, or even see what she going to be doing. She had operated her soul detector from a lab below the hangar. Her detector had been wired to the lab, but she was not able to see what she had been scanning. The scans showed that the object reacted like a dead body, with extremely low EM readings, and now, Mari had seen what she had scanned, a massive blood red orb, some 5 meters across. 'Oh, my God, what the hell is that thing? How could it have held a soul?'

Something else Mari noticed was the orb was nested in a cradle (in the shape of an octahedron) with wires and tubes connected to and wrapped around the orb. This cradle was suspended from the ground, and attached to this messed up cradle, was some sort of long tube with a hatch on top and several tubes running to it from the control room. 'What in the fuck have I gotten myself into?'

Mari looked into the control room, and saw, besides the technicians in lab coats, she saw five other men dressed in suits looking out of the observation window. 'God this sucks, I didn't think I'd have to demonstrate this damn experiment to people!' Mari thought. 'I wonder who those old guys are though…' Mari noticed the men were leering at her. 'Perverts, I wish they wouldn't look at me like that, or at all, it's creepy.'

Mari saw a technician standing at the bottom of the stairs that led up to the long tube suspended above the floor. "Miss, will you come this way please? Someone at the top will help you into the Link Tube."

Mari nodded. "Sure." She started up the long set of stairs to the top. 'God, why couldn't they put in an elevator, I might drop dead before I get to the top.'

Meanwhile in the control room, the men were looking at Mari, and following her with their eyes as she ascended towards the Link Tube as they had a hushed conversation. The Human Instrumentality Committee, and five founders of SEELE were in attendance.

"What do you think will happen here today, Lorenz?" The American, Jackson said.

"Well, Jackson, I'm sure today's little test will be a rousing success, and will bring us closer to our goal of instrumentality." Keel said.

"Quite so, although, what will happen to the girl?" Pinnafore asked, sounded as British as one could be.

"Does it matter? She is expendable." The Frenchman, Godot said in his deep accent.

"She is simply a means to an end for us Pinnafore." Bayuski said in his deep Russian voice.

They looked back towards Mari and saw she had reached the top of the cradle. "Damn, I'm tired, did you guys use enough stairs, or would you like to add more?" Mari said aloud to the technicians standing next to the Link Tube. Mari walked over to the tube and the two technicians helped her inside. Once inside, Mari saw she was sitting in a seat with two armrests, and no visible controls. Mari was handed a headset by one of the technicians, with the control room telling her it would facilitate a link between the Tube and the sphere.

Mari put the heavy headset on. It was like half a helmet with a visual display visor attached to it. Mari felt uncomfortable in the tube, until she heard the hatch above her close. She screamed.

"Ms. Makinami, the test will be commencing in a few minutes. We will now be filling the Link Tube with a substance that will better connect you to sphere. Are you ready?" The lead technician asked her.

" _Is 'No' an acceptable response?_ " Mari said, semi–sarcastically.

"Unfortunately, no." He replied. "Begin fluid transfer, just breath normally, Ms. Makinami, this stuff is oxygenated, and once it's in your lungs, you'll be able to breathe normally. Good luck, Ms. Makinami."

The Link Tube filled from the bottom, and Mari recognized the smell. 'Life Creation Liquid?' She thought. 'Kyoko came up with this stuff for her experiment. What the hell is going on?' The LCL covered her face and she gasped, letting in a huge gulp, she coughed for a bit unable to breath, before it settled into her lungs and she took a deep, wet, breath. 'Why would they need to use LCL? It doesn't make any sense.'

"Sir, her vitals are starting to rise dangerously high." A technician said.

"Ms. Makinami? Please calm down, the test can't be stopped at this point. It must be carried out." The head tech said.

" _Ya know, when someone is having trouble relaxing, telling them to relax does the exact opposite._ " Mari said. She thought it was weird to talk with her lungs full of LCL, but at this point, nothing would really surprise her anymore today. " _Well, I guess let's get this over with._ " She said, rolling her eyes.

"Begin startup sequence, initialize connection from Link Tube to Object."

"Link up complete, beginning induction."

"Vital signs are normal, LCL pressure nominal, Brainwaves within theoretical limits."

'Theoretical limits?' Mari thought. 'I have a bad feeling about this.'

"Connection between Subject–00 and Object is 42%… 55%… 76%… 83%… "

"Is it stable?"

"Yes, the connection is stable so far."

"Good." The lead technician said. "Ms. Makinami? Can you see anything, or feel anything?"

" _It's cold._ " Mari replied. " _And dark, where I am feels empty. What's going on? Is this thing on? Can you hear me?_ "

"Connection completion?"

"91%… 92.4%… 97.9%… 98.8%… 99.3%… 99.5%… 99.7%… 99.9%… 100%. Connection established and stable, Subject–00 vitals nominal, Object is showing no reaction as of yet"

"Ms. Makinami, have your surroundings changed?" No response. "Ms. Makinami? Subject status? Object status?"

"Subject–00 all signs normal, sir, and the Object is showing no signs of… wait, what's that? ENERGY SPIKE!"

Right after the technician had finished his statement, the building began to shake. "What the hell is going on?"

"Unknown, sir. Power levels from the object have spiked, it seems to be the source of the vibrations as well."

"The Link Tube, what about the Link Tube?!"

"Connection with the Link Tube has been lost. It appears to be being brought towards the Object, wait, no… it looks like its… being absorbed into the Object."

"Someone confirm this! NOW!"

"Sir, just look out the window, its being drawn into it, there is no need to confirm."

"Power output of the Object is still increasing, sir."

"Where are those power readings coming from?"

"They are coming from… from inside the object sir."

"Damn it all! Is there anything we can do to stop this?!"

"Sir, if the vibrations continue for much longer, this building will lose all structural integrity."

"Who cares about that, what about the test subject? Is Ms. Makinami alright? Can we eject her?"

"Technicians tried to get the Link Tube before the hatch was inside the object, but they were repelled by some sort of electromagnetic field, of incredible strength."

"Sir something is going on, these readings aren't making any sense anymore?"

"Was the anymore really necessary? Do we even know what's happening right now?"

Just then, there was a bright flash of light, followed by a crash and then the shaking finally stopped. Looking out into the hangar the Link Tube was gone, and the sphere had broken free of the cradle. "Contact HQ in Japan, and tell them we've had an experiment gone awry. The Subject has disappeared, and the object has become dormant again. Send them the full report and all readings taken during the test."

"Well, gentleman it appears that your experiment has failed. Now we were here to see your project at work, however, we must say that the funding for this experiment will be pulled, and Alcion will be no more." Keel said with sickening grin on his face. "However, I believe that this branch can be kept open, and this experiment mothballed for the time being." Keel finished his statement, and we walked out of the observation room, followed by the other four men who had accompanied him. "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Keel said quietly as he left the room.

The Link Tube had been absorbed into the darkness of the sphere. All Mari heard as everything went dark and silent around her was Yui's voice. " _I'll always remember you Mari. I'll never let go of our friendship, no matter what. Thank you, Mari Makinami for being a great friend._ "

"Yui, please don't forget me." Mari said before everything became black.

End Episode I

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A/N: I do not own Evangelion or any of the characters, GAINAX and the other distributors of NGE related material do. I am simply using them as a backdrop for my fanfic.

As for the songs used in this chapter, I don't own them either, and they're listed below in order of appearance:  
Europe – _The Final Countdown_ (1986)

Translation of Kyoko, angry German:

No, I only call people names in other languages for fun. Fucking asshole.

Well, that concludes the awesomeness of Episode I! **SPOILER ALERT!** Mari will return, I can't kill off a character that I like (just make her into LCL for a long while), we'll revisit our brunette heroine in a different Episode, as her importance to the story and her interactions with Shinji will be more substantial than in the rebuild series. (Like a shit ton more substantial, and no, they will not be making kissy faces or having WAFFs)

Also the small snippets of their new lives as researchers will give a bit more insight on them, and how their research is being used against the first generation of female characters. Now, the project Mari is working on, and gets sucked into is like a Mark 0 Evangelion, before the need or purpose of an Evangelion was brought to light. I figured SEELE would try to get a leg up on instrumentality before having all the pieces in place, and well, like in the show itself, this rushing of things leads to the events in End of Evangelion, or the ending of 2.22, whichever you think is more forced.

I got this chapter title from the original proposed Anno title. "Alcion", Sadamoto's title preference. "Evangelion" clearly won out in the end (and sounds better), so I figured that the prototype of the EVA and Project E should be named appropriately.

Next up! Neon Genesis Evangelion: Legacy – Episode II: Attack of the Seeds.

Please read and enjoy!

Now let's learn to swear in German!

Scheißkerl – Motherfucker

Gottverdammt – Goddammit

Verdammt – Dammit

As I said before, and will always say at the end of chapter, please leave comments, as I would like to try to improve the story going forward any way I can. And, hell, constructive criticism is a good thing.

* * *

つづく


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